* 11 km Evergreen Line will connect with existing SkyTrain
* Operations scheduled to start in summer of 2016
* Funding provided by Ottawa, province, transport authority
* Shares of SNC-Lavalin rise 1.3 pct
VANCOUVER, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Canada's SNC-Lavalin Inc
will design, build and finance a C$1.4 billion ($1.43 billion) light-rail line linking three cities near Vancouver, the provincial government said on Thursday.
The planned 11-kilometer (6.9-mile) rapid transit line, set to begin running in the summer of 2016, will connect the cities of Burnaby, Port Moody and Coquitlam in the western Canadian province of British Columbia.
The Evergreen Line project, which will feed into the region's existing SkyTrain system, will include a 2 km bored tunnel, seven stations, power substations and parking facilities.
Shares of Quebec-based SNC-Lavalin - designated by the province as the Evergreen Line's preferred lead contractor - rose 1.3 percent to C$38.18 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday. The company's stock is down by a quarter this year, hit by a missing payments scandal and the resignation of its chief executive.
The B.C. government is contributing C$583 million to the project, and will oversee its construction. The Canadian government's contribution is up to C$417 million. Translink, which is the Greater Vancouver area's transportation authority and which will operate the Evergreen Line once it is built, is contributing C$400 million.
Construction will create 8,000 direct and indirect jobs, the B.C. government statement said. Early construction work is underway and will pick of speed later in the year after the contract is signed, it said. ($1 = 0.9817 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Nicole Mordant; Editing by Frank McGurty)
((nicole.mordant@thomsonreuters.com)(+1-604-664-7315)(Reuters
Messaging: nicole.mordant.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: SNCLAVALIN EVERGREENLINE/