A new study of the Port of Vancouver’s signature project — a planned 27-mile expansion of rail tracks to speed cargo and handle more of it — says the port will have to borrow as much as $75 million to cover a shortfall and should adopt plans to avoid cost overruns.
The West Vancouver Freight Access project will cost $148 million from 2011 to 2017, when it’s expected to be completed, according to the 174-page study by consulting firm Moffatt & Nichol. Facing a funding shortage of $63 million, the port must borrow a total of $75.5 million over the next seven years to cover both the construction cost and the roughly $12.8 million in interest expense associated with borrowing.