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The NDP government needs to pony up cash to help pay for Calgary’s Green Line LRT now that the city has submitted an official funding request, says a local transit lobby group.

Both the federal government and the city have promised to fund two-thirds of the 46-kilometre light rail transit project, which could now cost $4 billion to $5 billion, excluding additional financing costs. While the NDP have voiced support for the project, it has refused to commit any dollars until it received a formal request.

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“We now have a provincial government that has stated throughout that they’re in support of the project,”said Jeff Binks, president of LRT on the Green. “The one reason that they’ve kept coming back to for not making a consideration for funding has now been taken away.”

Last month, Calgary’s mayor submitted a letter to Alberta Infrastructure Minister Brian Mason, outlining the scope of the Green Line LRT, previous commitments by the city and Ottawa, and the crucial role the province has played in building Calgary’s LRT system — one of the most well used in North America — since it first opened in 1981.