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Meridiam, the global investor and asset manager, has signed a 35-year contract with the province of Alberta, Canada, to design, build, operate, and partially finance the Southwest Calgary Ring Road PPP project.

The Design-Build-Finance- Operate (DBFO) contract is worth CAD$1.42 billion (US$1.1 billion), to be paid over the 35-year term of the contract. The Province of Alberta will fund 60 per cent of the capital construction cost which will be paid during the construction phase. The remaining 40% will be financed in the form of long term senior bonds, medium term bank debt and short term bank debt. Financing parties include: Scotia, TD, Desjardins, BTMU, ATB and KfW IPEX-Bank.

As we reported in mid July, the Government of Alberta, selected the consortium Mountain View Partners to develop the PPP project. Mountain View Partners is a consortium consisting of:

• Project Lead: Meridiam Infrastructure North America Fund II, as managed by Meridiam Infrastructure North America Corp.
• Financing Lead: Meridiam Infrastructure North America Fund II, as managed by Meridiam Infrastructure North America Corp.
• Design-Construction Lead: Kiewit Management Co.
• Operation and Maintenance Lead: Alberta Highway Services Ltd.

In September, 2015, we reported that other two teams were shortlisted for the project. These were:

• Valley Link Partners: VINCI, Acciona, and Eurovia.
• Southwest Connect: Hochtief, ACS, Aecon, Carillion, and  Flatiron.

The Southwest Calgary Ring Road Project involves construction from Highway 8 to Macleod Trail SE and includes reconstruction of Glenmore Trail from Sarcee Trail to east of 37 Street. The project includes 31 kilometers of six- and eight-lane divided highway; 14 interchanges; one road flyover; one railway crossing (flyover), 49 bridges and three river crossings over the Elbow River and Fish Creek. This project will advance the completion of the Calgary Ring Road.

Mountain View Partners will start construction in Fall 2016 and expects to open to traffic by October 2021. The design and construction of the project will be subcontracted to KGL Contractors, a construction partnership made up of Kiewit Management Co., Graham Infrastructure and Ledcor Group of Companies.  The operations and maintenance will be subcontracted to Alberta Highways Services Ltd.

Jane Garvey, Chairman, Meridiam North America, said:

"Meridiam feels privileged to be part of this landmark project to advance Calgary's ring road.  We're thrilled to develop our second asset in Alberta with the Province and to invest alongside our partners in this key project for continued economic growth. We believe that our long term approach to infrastructure development will allow us to work with all Calgarians in true partnership for the next 35 years."

Meridiam draws on deep transportation and PPP experience and has closed 11 projects in North America since 2009, including North East Anthony Henday (Edmonton, Alberta), Waterloo Light Rail (Ontario) in Canada, as well as LaGuardia Airport Central Terminal B (NY) and North Tarrant Express (TX) in the US.