The Ontario government is considering to adopt the PPP model to help finance a road project in the city of Timmins, in northeastern Ontario, Canada.

The Timmins Connecting Link is a main artery that runs through the heart of Timmins with a traffic count in excess of 30,000 vehicles per day. It starts in the East in the community of Porcupine and ends in the West at Kamiskotia Road for a total length of just under 21 km. It consists of sections with 2 lane and 4 lane roadways with both urban and rural areas.

Because of the poor condition of the Connecting Link, the City of Timmins in the winter of 2014 undertook a Preliminary Design Study, awarded to AECOM, to improve the asset. The 10-year project has an estimated cost of over (CAD95 million) US$74 million – highlighting the increased need for funding.

Timmins has asked the Ontario government to consider the alternative plan, which could include building a new bypass across the north side of the city. He told council that private money might be interested in investing in the multi-million dollar project. If council chooses to add enhancements, the cost could rise by an additional CAD45 million (US$35 million).

Under an Alternative Finance and Procurement (AFP) model, the municipality would establish the scope and purpose of an infrastructure project while the design, the construction work, the operations and financing would be done by the private sector. The idea was presented to the council, but it has not made a decision yet.

Steve Black said:

“We agreed to have his staff touch base with our staff to discuss the option that was presented and give us a bit of the detail on P3-style projects and whether or not this will be a suitable one. If we go this route, the AFP option, we would probably bid the entire project out and award it, and it would be done in a much shorter time period.”

“But council has not made that decision yet and really we just want to explore with the Ministry of Transportation at this time whether or not that would be something they would share an interest, and then possibly consider partnering on, if we went that route for the full project in a P3 partnership style deal.”