A $9.2-million deal to sell the TTC's Torkie, Yorkie, Moley and Holey -- four tunnel boring machines that were used to burrow the Spadina subway extension -- has fallen through, and now Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says the commission should consider keeping them.
Lovsuns Tunneling Canada Ltd., the Chinese company that was planning on purchasing the boring machines that were originally purchased for $51.7 million in 2009, withdrew its offers on Sunday. The deal was set to be discussed by the city on Wednesday.
"After three weeks of continued prompts, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China has unfortunately rejected the import application for the 4 sets of TBMs," a letter from Lovsuns dated July 20, 2014 reads.
Now that the Chinese company has pulled its offer to buy the four mammoth machines, Ford says he will have a discussion with the TTC's CEO Andy Byford about keeping them.
"I want to listen to what he has to say," Ford said. "I obviously think we should keep them. That's my opinion because we want to build subways."
But the TTC has already said that its "preferred option" would be to sell the machines, which it says would be more cost-effective in the long-term.
In the report that was supposed to be debated on Wednesday, the cost to store and refurbish the boring machines for further use was set at $28.8 million.
The cost of purchasing new ones was expected to be $54.1 million, but it's estimated they could shave approximately 1.7 months off construction time, which translates into $22 million in savings.
