Two consortia have raised their hands to design, build, finance and maintain the infrastructure of the future Québec tramway, a project estimated at nearly $4 billion.
ModerniCité and Mobilité de la Capitale both applied for the lucrative contract. The selected consortium will have the mandate to articulate and build the tramway platform, its stations, its interchanges, its 2.1 km tunnel under Parliament Hill and its operations centre.
These elements represent 80% of the total bill.
The identity of the selected consortium will not be known before the spring of 2023. Until then, the City will analyze the two application files, then open its call for proposals as soon as the necessary government authorizations have been obtained.
In a press release issued Wednesday morning, the City of Quebec is delighted to have reached an “important milestone” and salutes “the marked interest of the industry”.
“Good news for the Quebec tramway today! wrote Mayor Bruno Marchand on social media. One more step towards better mobility in Quebec!”
Competetion
Last June, the City had to cancel a first call for proposals due to lack of competition. Only one consortium had submitted a proposal to the finish line. “The market confronts us with a difficult but necessary decision”, explained the mayor at the time, Régis Labeaume.
The City then split the project in two to whet the appetite of bidders and gain bargaining power through competition.
Alstom and Siemens confirmed their interest in designing and manufacturing the trainsets in January. On Wednesday, ModerniCité and Mobilité de la Capitale, which were already in the running during the first call for qualifications, entered the arena to build the infrastructure this time.
The tramway project passed through these stages at a time when the population’s support for it was crumbling. The most recent poll presented by the City showed support of only 41%.
Since then, the mayor, his entourage and members of the project office have increased interactions with citizens to make the changes that the tram will bring to the neighborhoods it will cross more concrete.