It is a $2 million plus give the Town of Petrolia was not expecting.

The tender for the new wastewater treatment plant has come in over $2 million under what was expected.

When the town started actively seeking federal and provincial funding for the new plant, it expected to spend about $21 million. The federal and the provincial governments each came through with $7 million in funding leaving $7 million for the town to raise through its sewage rates.

But at a town council meeting Thursday, councillors heard the lowest bid from Stone Town Construction came in at $18,945,000 – that’s $2,055,000 less than expected.

“The bids were a lot lower than CIMA expected,” Mike Thompson, Petrolia’s director of operations told council.

Mayor John McCharles pointed out Stone Town’s bid was not the only low bid with three other bids coming in between $20.1 million to $20.6 million. “I’m amazed how close the bids came in together,” says McCharles.

Thompson says Stone Town has a good reputation with their name plastered all over the new overpasses along Highway 402.

The company’s website says Stone Town began building water treatment plants in 2000. It built the Ontario Clean Water Agency’s Interim Water Treatment Plant in Walkerton after the E.Coli tragedy which took the lives of seven people.

The company has built dozens of plants in the area including Chatham-Kent, Mount Brydges, London and Waterloo.

Now that the contract has been awarded, Thompson expects work should begin at the site in mid-November. The town hopes to have it operational by 2017.