Finalized agreement for LRT costs
Posted May 9, 2014 05:23:30 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An agreement to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the LRT has been finalized between the region and Grandlinq.
Chair of the Administration Finance Committee Tom Galloway tells 570 News this was the final step in bringing the LRT to Waterloo Region.
“We now have a final deal with grandlinq to build, finance, operate and maintain the LRT system. At all known costs. There are no more variables.”
Historically low interest rates helped finalize short and long-term financing costs this past Tuesday.
The 30-year financing costs have dropped by $11.5 million dollars and construction financing costs are $2.5 million dollars less than expected.
Regional Council now has to decide what to do with the extra $2.5 million.
Galloway says they could take it out of the $818 million capital budget for the LRT – cutting the budget down to $815.5 million.
The other option is to keep the capital budget at $818 million and use the extra money as a buffer to deal with any unforeseen costs.
He adds the $11.5 million can’t be taken out of the budget as the 30-year financing costs are fixed.
Regional Council will discuss the issue on May 27th.
