The general manager of Toronto Water is recommending that Aplus General Contractors Corporation be barred from bidding on City of Toronto contracts for three years after it allegedly failed to properly conduct and complete work at the Ellesmere pumping station.

Meanwhile the company is suing the city over the Ellesmere work — a contract worth $23,835,000 before taxes.

Aplus General Contractors Corp. is already under a temporary, six-month suspension, which began on Oct. 30. If the new, three-year city ban is approved, it will begin April 30, according to the report, from Toronto Water general manager Lou Di Gironimo, and the city’s chief purchasing officer.

“Regarding ‘issues’ with City of Toronto, we have no comments as the matter is legal in nature and is in courts,” Aplus wrote in an email Tuesday in response to questions about the report. “Factual information will be determined through the judicial process in due course.”

In its lawsuit, Aplus blames the city for project delays and extra costs. The city has countersued. None of the allegations in the lawsuits have been proven in court.

The report from Toronto Water is scheduled to go to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee on March 18, and then go to city council.

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Among the allegations made in the city report: Aplus failed to properly supervise and adhere to health and safety requirements, putting workers at high risk of serious injury or death.

The report also alleges that on Nov. 22, 2017, the president of Aplus made comments to a city staff person “with the apparent attempt to intimidate and harass this person including references to knowing where the staff person lived.”

The tender was awarded to Aplus in April, 2016, and included significant upgrades at the Ellesmere reservoir and pumping station, a key water storage and distribution hub serving 500,000 residents.

The work was ordered after the widespread electrical blackout in southern Ontario in August 2003 revealed gaps in Toronto Water’s ability to provide adequate drinking water supply for extended periods of power disruption, according to the report.

Since then, the city has undertaken upgrades to ensure it could provide water for at least 72 hours following a major power loss. The Ellesmere pumping station power generators upgrade was part of the plan.

According to the city, the contract required Aplus to, among other things, construct a new generator building, install the necessary equipment and systems for its operation and install a section of water main through the basement of the new generator building that connected with the existing Ellesmere reservoir.

The project was to be completed by Aug. 1, 2018, the city says.

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Aplus president Peter Martins could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In 2016, the company was criticized by Ontario’s auditor general for work on a pedestrian bridge in Pickering for Metrolinx. In its email to the Star on Tuesday, the company included a statement from that year denying the claims made by the auditor general.

In the company’s lawsuit against the City of Toronto over the Ellesmere project, it claims the city failed to issue a correct survey, failed to resolve scope changes in a timely fashion and failed to make payments in a timely fashion for completed work.

“As a result, the City has caused delays to the project (and) has put the project out of sequence, forcing Aplus to incur additional costs, even though Aplus has continuously notified the city that such delays would affect the project schedule,” according to the company’s statement of claim.

The city has defended against the claim and issued a counterclaim, alleging that while the company started work on time, it then failed to comply with the contract, including meeting deadlines. It says the company failed to carry out all necessary detailed surveying, resulting in workers cutting into the reservoir at an incorrect location when the water main was installed. The city also alleges that the company repeatedly failed to properly co-ordinate with the city-appointed consultant on the project and provide accurate documentation.

The city claims that at one point, it had to stop a portion of work on the project due to unsafe conditions.

The city claims that rather than address the issues it pointed out, the company abandoned the unfinished project on March 16, 2018, leaving potentially dangerous conditions on the site.

The city returned the east reservoir at the station to service using Toronto Water resources and another contractor and is currently pursuing alternate means to complete the project, according to the city report.

In the report, the city says the problems with the project mean it will be required to spend an additional $865,000 in contract administration on the project.

“The City does not often suspend contractors,” said Andrea Martinelli, a spokesperson for the City of Toronto. A list of suspended and disqualified firms is available on the City of Toronto website.

“By adopting the recommendations in this report, City Council will clearly communicate to Aplus and the wider construction industry that unacceptable and poor performance and conduct and a lack of good faith in dealings with the city will not be tolerated on City of Toronto contracts,” the report concludes.