Canada’s Trans Mountain secured C$10 billion in financing to cover construction costs
By Steve Scherer and Nia Williams
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada’s government-owned Trans Mountain Corp has secured C$10 billion ($7.7 billion) in financing to assist cowl the enlargement of a pipeline that can carry extra crude from landlocked Alberta to the Pacific coast, in accordance with a press release on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal authorities purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2018 to make sure the long-delayed enlargement undertaking went forward. In February, the federal government mentioned prices had surged to C$21.4 billion.
The third-party financing was secured with a gaggle of Canadian monetary establishments, the Finance Ministry assertion mentioned, including that “the associated fee estimate (for development) and 2023 completion date” for the pipeline wouldn’t change.
The federal authorities is offering a mortgage assure on behalf of Trans Mountain Corp and mentioned it has not spent any cash to place that assure in place.
The transfer drew criticism from some environmental teams.
“This can put much more taxpayer {dollars} on the road for a federally owned undertaking that has clearly change into a monetary boondoggle,” mentioned Julia Levin, Nationwide Local weather Program Supervisor at Environmental Defence.
($1 = 1.2996 Canadian {dollars})
(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Modifying by Leslie Adler, Bernard Orr)
