Tramway: no final agreement by Christmas, according to Bruno Marchand | Quebec Tram

The provisional agreement that should soon be concluded between the government of Quebec and CDPQ Infra on the tramway file is good news, according to Bruno Marchand. The final agreement between the parties will likely not be reached before the holiday season.

It won’t be before Christmas, that’s for sure. There is still work to be donetempered Bruno Marchand on Tuesday.

The role of each partner, including Quebec City, must be defined.

The governance of the project as well as the updating of the financial framework will also be the subject of discussions.

Bruno Marchand wants the whole process to be finalized by the end of the year.

Start the machine again

The mayor of Quebec nevertheless welcomes the imminence of a preliminary agreement between the government of Quebec and CDPQ Infra.

According to the Minister of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, Geneviève Guilbault, an announcement would be expected by the end of the week.

This is the starting point that allows us to restart the machine with CDPQ Infra so that we move forward and do not lose the 2025 construction season.reacted Bruno Marchand in the press scrum.

The official designation of the Caisse de dépôt as project manager should make it possible to plan future work, according to him.

Mayor Marchand is maintaining the focus on 2025 for the start of construction and 2030 to complete phase 1 of the project.

We are in the mode: governments say yes, the City says yes, CDPQ Infra does it, we are moving forward!

We have a federal government that wants it, that says it has the money, that wants to do itunderlined the mayor. We have a Quebec government that wants to do it, so there is no reason why we cannot get along.

We want to work with Alstom

Without wanting to interfere in the tender process, the mayor would like the project to move forward with Alstom.

Last week, the Premier of Quebec indicated that the government could return to a call for tenders regarding the contract concluded with the company.

We have a good contract with a good firm, a credible firm which has jobs here, particularly in La Pocatière. We believe in this contract. We believe this is the right contractunderlines Bruno Marchand.

The French company had obtained the contract to build the rolling stock before the government entrusted CDPQ Infra the study of the tram project. This contract provided for the construction of 34 trainsets for an amount of $569 million.

With information from Louise Boisvert