Colas team set to land Edmonton LRT

The preferred proponent is Marigold Infrastructure Partners (MIP), consisting of team members Colas, Parsons, Standard General, Francl Architecture, Fast & Epp and Stantec.

MIP and the city will now enter into final discussions, with the contract expected to be finalised by the end of this year. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2021 and is anticipated to take about five to six years to complete.

The CA$2.6bn (£1.5bn) Valley Line West project has funding commitments from the province of Alberta and government of Canada. It is the second phase of the Valley Line, a 27km LRT line that will connect Mill Woods and Lewis Farms. The first phase of the project, Valley Line Southeast, is currently under construction.

“We’d like to thank each of our proponent teams for participating in our procurement,” said Valley Line director Brad Smid. “We’re confident our rigorous competitive process has culminated in the selection of a strong team to deliver the Valley Line West LRT at good value for Edmontonians.”

Edmonton had been forced to restart procurement for the Valley Line West project late last year after two of the companies on the original shortlist pulled out.

It relaunched its procurement process in January 2020 and released its proponent shortlist in March. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the team adapted and shifted the process online. Proponents first provided technical submissions, including draft designs and plans, to demonstrate their ability to meet the technical requirements. All teams passed this first hurdle and were invited to submit a financial proposal. The city evaluated these proposals to make sure they met the financial requirements, and the team with the lowest financial bid was selected as the preferred proponent.

“Marigold Infrastructure Partners is very excited to work with the City of Edmonton on the Valley Line West LRT,” said Xavier Fenaux of Colas Canada. “As partners of MIP, Colas - whose subsidiary Standard General has delivered projects in Edmonton since 1969, and Parsons - building on their decades-long legacy of delivering P3 projects in Alberta, are proud to help the City build Edmonton and meet its long-term strategic goals for the city.

An economic assessment of the project has estimated that construction will generate CA$760m in wages in Alberta and another CA$209m throughout the country. It is expected to generate 8,800 jobs in the province and 2,700 across Canada.

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