While the province was doing the pre-loading, Partnerships BC was busy procuring a private partner for phase two. By running the two activities side-by-side, "we saved a lot of time on schedule," Freer says. The province also saved on the price of the phase two construction, which came in at $658 million.
An ACS Infrastructure-led team, Fraser Transportation Group, won the bidding in May 2010 and reached financial close on the project three months later. Of the $658 million project cost, $200 million will come from private sector financing. Another $363 million is coming from the federal government's Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative, which dedicates money and resources toward projects that improve mobility along important trade routes in Western Canada.
Fraser Transportation Group is now building the road, Freer says. Construction is slated to end in 2013, at which point Fraser Transportation will begin a 20-year operation contract for the road.
Bidders which missed out on South Fraser need not worry, though: there's a companion North Fraser project in the works, which may also proceed as a PPP.
"We'll see that in the next couple of years," Freer says.■