How Rob Ford plans to finance his subway line

So that's where the money's supposed to come from... Both the Sun and the Globe (in that order) report that Rob Ford hopes to use private sector funding to build a Sheppard Avenue subway extension as per a proposal submitted to Metrolinx yesterday. "I'm comfortable saying we have an arrangement on the financing that involves private financing... And I'm comfortable saying it involves a subway on Sheppard and an underground LRV on Eglinton," said Mark Towhey, Ford's interim chief of staff.

The plan, should the Premier and city council go for it, would involve a public-private partnership whereby the city maintains ownership of the line. The city would then "pay back the private consortium's initial investment using tax-increment financing and an increased transit-oriented development fee in a narrow band along the Sheppard line," reports the Globe's Kelly Grant.

Towhey notes that the Ford camp is "quite confident that there will be considerable interest in this kind of an opportunity for the private sector and the public sector to work together," but worthy note is that no financing has been secured as of yet. This, of course, leads one to wonder if there is indeed enough development in the area in question to raise the type of funds required for such a project.

Photo by dan cronin.jpg in the blogTO Flickr pool.