The City of Swift Current selected a local contractor last week to tackle its smaller asphalt failures.

United Paving Ltd. of Swift Current was given the $400,000 contract by city council after an RFP process was carried out in late March and early April. 

It was posted on SaskTenders and yielded two local proposals. Aside from unit price, availability, and experience, United Paving offered something unique to the City that won them the job. They will keep an asphalt plant setup in Swift Current throughout the construction season.

"It is good to see that there will be a plant set up all summer because this will be the first time that I can remember," Swift Current Mayor Al Bridal said. "It's going to be great for when we do those pothole repairs we're going to have hot asphalt and not just cold mix to do that with. Thank you to when you evaluated this and they said they were going to keep one in, I think that's a huge plus for the City."

The City says $200,000 will be for localized roadway failures, $150,000 for water, sanitary, storm & power repairs, and $50,000 for gas & power repairs. 

"Maintenance locations are identified from residents concerns and condition assessments," Swift Current's General Manager of Infrastructure & Operations Mitch Minken said. "It is essential to prioritize these identified repairs to prevent further deterioration of the roads which would result in a full rehabilitation or rebuild of an entire roadway."

The City cites the contract normally lands them around 12,000m2 in asphalt maintenance annually for around $350,000 to $400,000.

Minken added that for the past 16 years, he's been with the City, the contract had always been awarded to Mobile Paving but the company recently shut its doors.