Moody's has assigned A3 rating to senior secured bonds to be issued by the concessionaire of the Regina Bypass P3 Project in Saskatchewan, a province in central Canada.

Specifically, the agency has assigned A3 rating to CAD$488.2 million of amortizing senior secured bonds due in January 2045 and to CAD$140.4 million of bullet senior secured bonds due in July 2049.

The total project investment is estimated at US$1,104 million. The government of Canada, through PPP Canada, is investing up to CAD$200 million in the project.

In May this year the project was awarded to SaskLink Global Transportation Partners (SGTP), a consortium composed by VINCI, GraCorp Capital, Parsons, Graham, Carmacks, McElhanney, Urban Systems, Buckland and Taylor, Clifton Associates, Delcan and National Bank of Canada.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and maintain (DBFOM) basis. The Project consists of a free flow highway corridor through the Regina Region and includes approximately 58 km of 4-lane highway (including 40 km of new 4-lane highway) and service roads along with a number of interchanges and intersections.

The project will begin on Highway 11 northwest of Regina and run south to Highway 1, then wrap about 5 kilometres south of the city to rejoin Highway 1 on the east. The project includes overpasses at the Pilot Butte Access Road, Highway 48 at White City and Highway 46 at Balgonie.

Moody's reported in a statement that the project is expected to have a positive impact on the province of Saskatchewan's growth by eliminating a key transportation bottleneck in the Regina region by providing better access to the Global Transportation Hub and to the Regina airport, west of the city.

Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, has seen its population grow by a cumulative 9.2% in the last 3 years, thus underscoring the need for investment in local infrastructure.