The city of Toronto could be waiting as long as five years to be reimbursed for tens of thousands of dollars it was forced to pay in a construction screw up.
In May, NEWSTALK 1010 reported that the city believed a construction crew working on a project at Richmond St W and Peter St had either dumped concrete or grout into a storm sewer or let it flow underground.
The matter hardened and blocked pipes. 45m worth of piping needed to be replaced in a process that took several days to complete.
"There was a significant amount of debris in that pipe that we could not remove with conventional methods, so we have no choice but to excavate, remove the pipe and replace with new," Frank Trinchini then with Toronto Water told NEWSTALK 1010 in May.
Trinchini, who no longer works for the city, vowed that Toronto would go after the developer responsible for repair costs that he pegged at $90,000-$120,000.
City spokesperson Diala Homaidan would not say this week exactly how much money Toronto is after "given that the process might include litigation".
Homaidan explains that at this stage, city staff are preparing paperwork to initiate a "chargeback" to the contractor.
The speed of the resolution hinges on whether the contractor accepts or denies blame for the mishap and whether there is further investigation and challenges by the contractor's lawyers and adjusters.
"The entire process can take up to five years to recover the costs," Homaidan writes.
with a file from Dave Bradley