Biography

Maha Clour has served as Executive Project Director – Blue Line Project since January 2022. In this role, she oversees all activities of the Project Office, which includes nearly 700 employees primarily working on the Blue Line extension project and the installation of a new train control system on both the existing Blue Line and the extended segment.

In her capacity, she also manages relationships with project partners and leads negotiations with stakeholders to secure the necessary authorizations for project delivery. In addition, she serves as Vice President and General Manager of Transgesco, a limited partnership responsible for generating non-fare revenues through commercial, technological, and real estate activities.

 

Workshop Description

The Blue Line Project is a major public transit initiative extending 6 km underground. Governed by multiple organizations—including the STM, the City of Montréal, and the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility—the project will add five metro stations east of Saint-Michel station to the borough of Anjou.

Valued at $7.6 billion, the Blue Line Project is currently underway, with commissioning scheduled for 2031.

Through this session, the Head of the Project Office will guide participants through the strategic governance of an emblematic infrastructure project that mobilizes extensive resources and requires flawless coordination. She will present the complex governance mechanisms associated with the project, the strategic planning approaches, and the decision-making processes that help maintain alignment with objectives while managing risks and uncertainties.

Participants will discover how prudence is embedded in decision-making and stakeholder communication—an essential factor in ensuring the project’s social acceptability. The conference will highlight mitigation measures implemented to reduce impacts on surrounding communities, including operational planning, noise reduction, and proactive interface management.

Overall, the presentation will illustrate the complexity of strategic decision-making and provide a unique opportunity to explore the technical and human challenges involved in managing major infrastructure projects within a prudence-driven governance framework.

 

Agenda Highlights:

• Governance and strategic principles applied to a major public infrastructure project

• Decision-making levers related to risk management and resource optimization

• Interdisciplinary coordination methods to synchronize engineering, construction, and logistics

• Adoption of innovative underground construction techniques to reduce impacts on nearby communities (roadheader, rock splitter, tunnel boring machine)

• Mitigation and communication measures to minimize impacts on local communities

This conference is intended for project management and transportation professionals, as well as anyone interested in governance and strategy within large-scale infrastructure projects.

 

Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Understand the governance structure of a major project and how decision-making frameworks ensure coherence and performance

• Learn strategic planning methods in complex environments, including risk identification, assessment, and mitigation in urban contexts

• Discover interdisciplinary coordination practices to align engineering, construction, logistics, and communications

• Analyze real-world examples of prudent decision-making, balancing technical, budgetary, and social constraints

• Understand stakeholder management strategies to maintain alignment and manage community impacts