OTTAWA, Ont. – The official announcement of who will build Ottawa’s largest infrastructure project in history will be unveiled Wednesday morning at Ottawa City Hall.

The rumour mill is churning that The Rideau Transit Group, led by A.C.S. Infrastructure Canada, won the bid to build the first phase of the $2.1-billion light rail transit plan. It was just over a year ago, that A.C.S Infrastructure was named to the short list of bidders. The two losing bids will go home with $2-million each for entering the competition, but taxpayers will never see what they had to offer.  

A.C.S Infrastructure is based out of Spain and would lead a consortium of builders including Ellis Don, Veolia Transportation, S.N.C. Lavalin and several others.

The winner will have to work within the borders of a $2.1-billion price tag and the city expects the project to come in below that.  

Not everyone agrees.

“Massive infrastructure projects like this rarely hit the financial mark,” said Ian Lee at the Sprott School of Business. “Invariably they come in over budget, on average in the literature I have looked at, around 30 per cent.”

The winning bid is reportedly a fixed bid, which means the builder would be on the hook for any cost overruns.

“Costs will be monitored closely,” said Ottawa City Councillor Stephen Blais. “The challenge given to the light rail team was to bring this plan on time but also on the original budget of $2.1-billion. We had to shave off several hundred million dollars for inflation.”

The contract for the 12.5 km transit system still needs council approval this month. The city will unveil the plan to the public through a series of open houses starting Wednesday and running through December 19 and council will review and vote on the plan on December 12 and 19.

If approved, the city hopes to have shovels in the ground in early 2013.