Quote:
Originally Posted by Christien
I didn't know this! Who paid for it? Or do you mean it's being paid for by the tolls?
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It was actually an amazing piece of business, never done before in Canada. The builder brought in some big investors from Germany ($1B raised) and gave them a fixed rate of return which was paid from the tolls collected; paying the debt back over the next 75 years or something like that? Then the bridge is turned over to the Gubmint for $1.00.
The Gubmint bauked at the plan, but after some negotiating it went ahead; there is NO toll to come off the island; only to go on AND the Gubmint left the Ferry service in place; paid for by the tax payers. The project was extremely political, as you can imagine.
They tried to do one from Vancouver to the Island, but BC politics was too strong to allow it; instead they chose to spend a Billion Dollars of the tax payers money on some ferry boats that didnt work; they lost the entire purchase in about 2 years; was a real scam. The bridge wouldn't have cost tax payers a penny.
>>>> Athabasca Paddle River Dam; Alberta.
I worked on the concrete spillway for this dam in 1983;
It was at the time, one of Canada's largest earth dams? I think?
The spillway is the size of 30 football fields.
