August 31, 2007

Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure plans to upgrade Ontario's highway service centres

TORONTO

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure Ontario have released a request for qualifications to shortlist teams to design, build, finance, maintain and operate highway service centres on Highways 400 and 401.

“Ontario’s highway service centres are important to travelers as they provide a safe place to rest, eat, and re-fuel,” said Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield.

“We want to provide the public with modern service centres that provide better and innovative services.”

There are 23 highway service centres located in southern Ontario, currently leased and operated by one of three fuel companies: Shell, Imperial Oil or Petro-Canada.

The majority of the long-term leases are about to expire and the province is looking for a single operator who will renew the sites and offer quality services to the traveling public.

The service centre project is the first transportation project to be delivered under the Province’s Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) program.

Unlike other infrastructure projects, where the government pays the private sector for infrastructure renewal, the selected operator of the service centres will pay for their redevelopment and provide an ongoing source of revenue to the province.

“This type of private sector redevelopment and revenue-sharing model has the potential to provide significant value for money to taxpayers, while providing improved services and facilities to the traveling public,” said Derek Burleton, senior economist, Toronto Dominion Bank.

Once qualified operators have been short-listed, they will be invited to respond to a Request for Proposals (RFP), to be released in winter 2007/08.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation will manage the project with Infrastructure Ontario.

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