The Flood Contractor and Contractor for the Massive Red River Deviation Project in North Dakota have resolved $ 400 million in claims with a liquidation of $ 57 million, much related to the failure in epoxy coating in some parts of the project to protect against corrosion.
The settlement eliminates unresolved matters in the same way as the new leaders take care of the two project partners and try to put the project’s past tumultuous past and conflicts behind.
By virtue of the agreement, the subway flood deviation authority will pay $ 57 million in increases for the project developer and contractor, the Red River Valley Alliance, whose designer building arm is ASN builders. The alliance had called for the recovery of receiving and other issues.
The Board of 13 MFDA members unanimously approved the liquidation, which reduces the risk of unknown legal costs and the delays arising from the litigation, said MFDA in a statement. Additional payments will come out of a contingency budget.
John Shockley, the General Counsel of the Authority, said that the $ 400 million in claims included delays, change orders and other problems In addition to epoxy coating. The settlement represents less than 2 percent of the project of $ 3.2 million, he told the authority board at a meeting of July 2.
“Fifty-seven millions of dollars are obviously a lot of money, but sometimes with a great project like this I think it is sometimes appropriate to take a step back and have a 30,000-feet vision,” Shockley told the advice.
Shockley added that the use of epoxy -covered receipt had been a little concern for the audience. The dispute focused on whether the covered bar would be used in all specific structures or only in a corrosive environment.
The deviation project of the Fargo-Moorhead area broke the ground in 2017. Its 30 miles channel is the first public-private association made jointly with the United States Army Engineers Corps and The first P3 water management in North America. It is also the first green financing initiative in the United States, designed specifically for the adaptation of climate change.
An association of Acciona, Shikun and Binui USA and North American Construction Group, the Red River Valley Alliance is the developer of the Rainwater Deviation Channel and the part of associated infrastructure of the Fargo-Moorhead General Project.
There is a major part of the global project. The body is providing the portion that will stage the water and control its flow. The body also serves as a federal agency that oversees the entire project.
The P3 mechanism allows the Fargo-Moorhead part of the global project to build ten years sooner than if the body built it alone, saving millions of dollars.
In March 2025, Luke Chenery took the rudder of the River Red Valley alliance as CEO, and in February 2025 Jason Benson became MFDA Permanent Executive Director.
The administrator of the city of Fargo, Michael Redlinger, and the Cassa county administrator, Robert Wilson, had served as co-executives since the resignation of Joel Paulsen a year ago.
In a place in Linkedin six months after his departure, Paulsen wrote that he still supports the project “and I hope I was successful, but I have passed and focused on the unique theme that resulted in my resignation, construction disputes.”
The authority and the alliance had been waiting for guidance on disagreements of contracts by the Technical Advisory Board of the Authority. The Council had heard the initial claim on the need to use EPOOXI RECOVED to the deviation structures of the Fargo-Moorhead area in May 2024, but was delayed by a complaint on the open meeting requirements that the State Attorney General had to decide.
Superficial coating replaced
ASN builders began to incorporate an epoxy covered receipt into concrete structures in July last year, MFDA reported in a statement, but concrete structures finished without receiving coated will have their covered surfaces with what the MFDA calls “protective product” called “called” called ” Tex-Cote®. By virtue of the agreement, a substantial completion will be coated and is issued by the manufacturer’s specifications.
The change in leadership and the wait “presented an opportunity for a collective review of past and present disputes,” said Benson. “We have reaffirmed our commitment to work together and have established additional checks and collaborative approaches that are expected to reduce the need for formal conflict resolution processes.” Chenery expressed the same feelings.
“Through our small debates on the leadership team, the parties were able to reach this technical solution, without the need to eliminate and replace the previously completed structures, which helps maintain the project on time and prevents economic waste,” said Benson.
With additional reports from Jennifer Seward
