The private sector would help pay for a $75-million rapid-transit corridor in south Winnipeg in exchange for development rights and tax advantages under a proposal being discussed with the city.

The plan would provide a high-tech alternative to transit buses or driving cars along Pembina Highway — one of the most congested routes in Winnipeg.

The corridor would link the proposed Graham Avenue transit mall downtown and the Universit of Manitoba via The Forks.

It would be the first step in a mass-transit system serving all of Winnipeg, including Transcona.

"We are the only modern city of this size which doesn't have a rapid transit system," Coun. Terry Duguid , works and operations chairman, said in an interview.

Duguid and other civic officials met representatives from a number of industries, including construciton and finance, at a private meeting at the Aikins MacAulay Thorvaldson law offices.

The meeting was used to set some guidelines, Duguid said, adding it could take at least a year before a concrete plan could be worked out.

Under the plan, private contractors, would have been hit hard in the recession, would pay the city's one-third share for construction of the rapid-transit corridor — an estimated $25 million.

In return, contractors would get:

• A guaranteed annual return on their investment in the form of a rental or lease fee.
• Some tax writeoffs such as the one given to private corporations as capital cost allowance.
• Zoning concessions which would allow developers to build apartments, shopping centres or recreation complexes along the corridor.

"The private sector has to have some benefits," Duguid said, adding the concept has been used in other cities, including Pittsburgh, Phoenix and Washington, D.C.