Province set to commit share of Green Line cash

‘It’ll be full steam ahead’ for $4.65B project after final funding hurdle

It’s been a long wait, but Alberta’s NDP government is expected Thursday to pledge its share of funding for the first stage of Calgary’s highly anticipated $4.65-billion Green Line LRT project.

The province said late Wednesday that Premier Rachel Notley, Transportation Minister Brian Mason and Mayor Naheed Nenshi will make an “important infrastructure announcement” Thursday morning at a news conference at the 4th Street LRT Station. It’s believed the announcement will provide detail on a funding package for the massive rail line — the largest public transit project in Calgary’s history.

“It feels like a long time coming, but the planning of the Green Line and the realization of the funding has happened in a really abbreviated time frame and it’s exciting,” said Ward 7 Coun. Druh Farrell. “It’ll be full steam ahead.”

An announcement had been expected since the NDP vowed last week to give “immediate consideration” to providing provincial funding for the project on the heels of Calgary city council approving the final route.

The federal government has already committed $1.5 billion over an 11-year period and city council has pledged $1.56 billion over 30 years for the line that will eventually span 46 kilometres with 28 station locations.

Stage 1 of the Green Line will span from 16th Avenue N. in Crescent Heights to 126th Avenue S.E. in Shepard.

Ward 12 Coun. Shane Keating, one of the principal proponents of the line that will eventually stretch from North Pointe to Seton, said Wednesday that an announcement of funds from the province would allow planning to “shift into the next phase.”

“I’m looking forward to the day the announcement is in and finished and we can put it to bed and get the serious work of construction started,” Keating said.

So far, the $4.65-billion price tag touted for the project has not included the millions required in annual debt servicing.

Council members have said they hope an announcement from the province will include some consideration for financing. City administrators have said the worst-case scenario is that the city could be saddled with annual debt servicing costs in excess of $50 million.

“I would love to see, when they announce, that they would be considering different ways of including financing charges in an equal time frame, or better time frame, than the federal government, so that the project isn’t saddled with expenses other than the capital costs of building it,” Keating said.

One strategy for financing previously floated by advocacy groups involves tying provincial funds directly to the carbon levy.

Provincial officials said last October that it was “certainly a possibility” that Alberta could use funds from the proposed green infrastructure investment fund to pay for the Green Line.

Previous estimates have suggested the Green Line could result in a reduction of 52,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually by taking more vehicles off the road.

“That would be a sustainable source of funding for public transport,” Farrell said.

“And we need more decisions that reduce our carbon footprint. We need to build that capacity.”