The Saskatchewan government and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have reached a conditional sale agreement for land required to construct a proposed football stadium with a retractable roof in downtown Regina.
However the minister responsible, Ken Cheveldayoff, said the agreement does not mean a decision has been made to proceed with the construction on the multipurpose facility, whose main tenant will be the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.
"The agreement ensures that the land is in place if a decision is reached to build the facility," he said. "It is a conditional agreement, which means that the sale is subject to the province's final decision on whether or not to build the facility."
In 2009, the Crown Investments Corp. of Saskatchewan, the holding company for the province's commercial Crown corporations, approached CP regarding the purchase of the intermodal lands and certain adjacent properties.
"The agreement includes a number of significant items, including setting a fair value for the land and compensating CP for relocation of some of its operations," Cheveldayoff said.
"Because it's conditional, we can't disclose the cost at this time. If the sale fell through and a price is out there, CP would be at a competitive disadvantage. If and when the sale is finalized, the overall cost to the government will be disclosed at that time."
Discussions are underway with the federal government and the City of Regina to make financial contributions to the facility, with an estimated price tag near $400 million for the 35,000-seat stadium.
The provincial government expects to make a final decision within weeks.
from Western Investor, November 2010
