MAT Asphalt, based in McKinley Park, was the apparent low bidder across the board for $500 million in work for the City of Chicago.
Now the city has rejected the bids.
MAT Asphalt has been the target of complaints by some in its neighborhood, who accuse MAT of pollution.
“We are not what the groups around us are claiming that we are. It just isn’t the case,” said MAT Plant Manager Joe Haughey. “It’s limited competition in the city, so we believe the origins of the pseudo-activism comes from that side.”
Haughey said that as the city asks for new bids, it can expect the price tag to be higher.
“The economic climate has changed dramatically since we originally bid this,” Haughey said. “In the current economic climate it’s not really the time you’d think you’d want to renegotiate.”
Haughey said the asphalt plant is environmentally clean, and he said there’s a political agenda at work behind the scenes.
“So, not much to say beyond that — other than it’s a mystery to us,” Haughey said.
The city of Chicago will ask for new bids in the fall.
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