WINNIPEG, Man. — The federal and provincial governments have committed more than $212 million to build a four-lane divided expressway that will link CentrePort Canada – a 20,000-acre plan for a manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation depot – with major rail and highway links.

Premier Gary Doer made the announcement with Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Winnipeg Airports Authority today.

“I would like to thank the Prime Minister for his support and the business community for their vision, one that we all share and agree is important to continuing to build our province for the future,” Doer said. “These improvements will help ensure further private sector investment in CentrePort Canada by enhancing access to the site, which is already a desirable location for warehousing, distribution and other industrial activity that depends on convenient and efficient access to transportation services including air, road and rail.”

The funding will connect CentrePort Canada Way to: Inkster Boulevard (PR 221), the James A. Richardson International Airport, and the CP Weston rail intermodal facility to the Perimeter Highway near Saskatchewan Avenue.

CentrePort Canada is intended to build on Manitoba’s strategic location in the heart of North America and is expected to serve as an international transportation, trade, manufacturing, distribution, warehousing and logistics centre, according to the Premier’s office. CentrePort Canada is a private sector-led corporation, created by provincial legislation, to develop and promote the inland port and build on Manitoba’s established infrastructure network of air, rail, trucking and sea routes. 

The governments of Manitoba and Canada have supported CentrePort Canada through a variety of recent joint-funding initiatives, including $85 million to upgrade PTH 75 – Manitoba’s key trade route to the US – and $48 million for upgrades to the Hudson Bay rail line and the port of Churchill.

The province further states that it introduced legislation to allow tax increment financing to support development in the inland port area and Budget 2009 expanded the fuel tax exemption for international cargo flights to include direct and indirect flights to the US.