Infrastructure Ontario outlines billions in capital plans
By Adam Freill
Construction InfrastructureMarket update reveals 31 projects in pre-procurement and procurement, and $20 billion in planned spending this year for schools, hospitals, highways, transit, and more.
More than $35 billion in projects are in Infrastructure Ontario’s pre-procurement and active procurement stages, reported the organization during its most recent market update, presented from Toronto’s Empire Club of Canada on December 5.
Another 20 government-announced projects are also in initial stages of planning, with scope, timing and delivery model still being determined, explained Ontario’s Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma and Infrastructure Ontario’s president and chief executive officer Michael Lindsay.
“Since the last market update in March, three projects in infrastructure Ontario’s pipeline have advanced to construction,” stated Surma. That list includes a widening of Highway 3 to four lanes in Essex County, site preparation to rebuild Ontario Place, and construction at Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), which will become a single state-of-the-art purpose-built site.
“Since the inception of its public private partnership program almost 20 years ago, Infrastructure Ontario has brought 80 projects to substantial completion as of March 2023,” she stated.
“We have successfully, since the inception of Infrastructure Ontario, delivered 80 projects to substantial completion,” added Lindsay. “Thirty of those projects have reached substantial completion since 2020. We have collectively, together, delivered 11 healthcare facilities, six justice facilities … and 10 major transit and transportation projects.”
“Infrastructure is the backbone of a strong and healthy economy. It is essential to the quality of life of all Ontarians both today and in the future,” explained Surma.
The province has outlined plans to spend $185 billion over the next decade, including some $20 billion between 2023 and 2024, to build schools, hospitals, long-term care homes, roads, highways and public transit.
“We are undergoing the largest transit expansion in Canadian history,” she said as she summarized the province’s plans to grow public transit by expanding Toronto’s subway network by 50 per cent and adding to its commuter and light-rail lines. “We’re also building vibrant, complete, mixed-use communities around GO Transit, light rail transit and subway stations across the GTA,” she added.
The December Market Update can be viewed on Infrastructure Ontario’s website.
