Infrastructure bank may avoid projects with too much financial risk, Sohi says
OTTAWA — The government’s new agency for financing major construction projects might take a pass on proposals that pose too great a risk for taxpayers when they’re asked to make a private sector idea a reality, the infrastructure minister says.
Amarjeet Sohi said the key test for the so-called infrastructure bank, which combines public and private funding for major projects, will be whether it is financially viable in the long run to provide the necessary returns to public and private investors.
The government will be taking on financial risk regardless of what projects go ahead, but only on its portion of the funding, not the entire cost of the project, Sohi said in an interview Wednesday with The Canadian Press.
The Liberal government has been parrying opposition questions about the agency and just how much public money will be on the line for transport, energy, and transit projects that could cross municipal, provincial and international borders.