[URBAN NOTE] "Quebec Sees Montreal Light-Rail Project Financing Deal This Year"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg's Frederic Tomesco notes Québec's new light rail project.

Quebec expects financing for a proposed C$5.5 billion ($4.3 billion) light-rail system linking downtown Montreal to several suburbs and the city’s airport to be finalized this year, Transport Minister Jacques Daoust said.

Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec is seeking permission to build the 67-kilometer (42-mile) light-rail network, provided the federal and provincial governments both chip in. Canada’s second-largest public pension-fund manager said last month it’s willing to invest C$3 billion, leaving C$2.5 billion for governmental contribution.

“An agreement on the financing should come quickly,” Daoust told reporters Friday at a Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal conference. “We need an answer by the fall.”

Under the timeline put forward by the Caisse, construction will probably begin in the spring of next year, with service at the end of 2020. Quebec is prepared to put up half of the C$2.5 billion sought by the Caisse, and wants the federal government to match the amount, Daoust said.