concession

The Federal Highway Administration is moving to prevent repeats of Pennsylvania's attempt to hand I-80 to the state Turnpike for tolling to generate funds for other state projects. Under a proposed formal Rule (Federal Register 73/196 p58908 2008-10-08) state DOTs will be required to obtain a fair market valuation as part of a concession agreement for tolling facilities built with federal dollars.  read more »

Abertis is better off not having had its $12.8b accepted for the Pennyslvania Turnpike concession, according to a leading European concessions analyst. In an email this morning Steven Fernandez, who follows concession stocks for Exane BNP Paribas says that the deal was generally perceived in European investment circles as too expensive for Abertis' good.

Exane BNP Paribus is a large European securities firm head-officed in Paris.
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Abertis board of directors decided today to let their joint bid with Citi for the Pennyslvania Turnpike lease expire. They had twice previously extended the bid of $12.8 billion from the initial expiry date of June 20 in the hope of getting legislative approval for their deal with Governor Rendell. The deal which would have given the Abertis-Citi group a 75 year toll concession formally expired for lack of enabling legislation 5pm eastern time (09/30 17:00).  read more »

The Abertis-Citi current offer of $12.8 billion for a 75 year lease/concession of the Pennsylvania Turnpike expires next Tuesday Sept 30, and signs are it won't be extended. Last week a senior officer of the two companies was saying that without movement on enabling legislation this month, they were done.
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Following the Federal No to tolling I-80 on Thursday (2008-09-11) Governor Ed Rendell immediately called for enabling legislation to proceed with the agreed lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Abertis/Citi team which has a $12.8 billion offer in effect until Sept 30. Rendell says "It's the only plan." He says without it the state is back into financial crisis.  read more »

Two groups submitted proposals Friday for the approx-$1.5 billion upgrades to I-595, south Florida's east-west mega-highway/distributor project. It involves upgrades of the present 8 lane interstate with discontinuous frontage roads to a basic 19 lanes along 17km (10.5 miles) of the highway to a 3/5/3/5/3 lanes format, Texas style. 825 words  read more »

Abertis-Citi teamed to run the Pennsylvania Turnpike concession if Governor Rendell gets support from the legislature next month will be releasing a Turnpike reform manifesto next week. Speaking from a car phone on the Pennsylvania Turnpike which kept losing signal - and provoked exasperated curses for the Turnpike's "outdated" technology - the concessionaire's chief lobbyist Jim Courtovich told us the group is releasing a Turnpike reform manifesto. 847 words  read more »

Abertis which is leading the joint venture selected by the Rendell Administration to operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike under a longterm lease concession assesses the score in the state lower house at 47 in favor and 53 against, according to Joe Grata writing in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. He quotes Abertis US chief Jordi Graells as giving these numbers during a meeting with the newspaper's editorial board.
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The Wall Street Journal whose reporting of the toll business is generally sparse today (pA1 2008-08-26) frontpaged the proposed $12.8b toll concession of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Reporter Craig Karmin apparently got in to talk to the main champion state governor Ed Rendell who told him that leasing the Turnpike "is a decided underdog."
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A Brisa, CCR, JPMorgan team titled A2 Transportation Partners (A2TP) topped the score in a rating of firms qualifications for the Alligator Alley toll concession in Florida. A2TP was followed by Cintra-led team (Everglades Parkway Partners) and Atlantia the big Italian motorway operator previously named Autostrade. Brisa is the leading toll motorway operator in Portugal and CCR in Brazil. 423 words  read more »

Mississippi DOT has invited all three groups who submitted qualifications to proceed to make proposals for the concession contract for the Airport Parkway project in the state capital Jackson.

The three are each led by large Spain-based international tollroad development groups:

1) the Jackson Access Mobility Group composed of Dragados and ACS

2) the Airport Parkway P3 Group composed of Cintra and Ferrovial

3) Global Via
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They are huge billboards on private property just off the Turnpike's right of way, impossible to miss driving in on the Turnpike from east or west to the state Capitol - one east, one west and a third smaller one just off I-83 on the spur route into central Harrisburg.  read more »

Three groups have submitted their statements of qualifications by the deadline Friday Aug 1, the first step in the award of a toll concession to build the Airport Parkway in Jackson Mississippi. The three are each led by large Spain-based international tollroad development groups:

1) the Jackson Access Mobility Group composed of Dragados USA, HNTB, Eutaw, Key and APAC
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Pennsylvania Transportation Partners comprising Abertis (58.3%) and Citi (41.7%) have extended their offer to the state of Pennsylvania of $12.8 billion for a 75 year lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to September 30. The extension is designed to give the state legislature time to enact enabling legislation in their short Fall session mid-September.
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With the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission rolling out its plans for Interstate 80, the Commonwealth Foundation thinktank in Harrisburg called on officials to seek competitive bids from the private sector to lease and operate the highway if policymakers choose to toll the 500km (311-mile) interstate.
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Senate leaders are discussing with the Corzine administration a private toll concession to manage truck and bus lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike. Richard Cody, president of the senate and Raymond Lesniak chair of an economic committee are both reported by Joe Donahue in the Star-Ledger as saying they are looking at a partial toll concession - either for truck and bus lanes or for premium service lanes for cars.
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North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority (NETRMA)'s board decided recently to exercise their authority to develop the Toll 49 (previously known as Loop-49 tollroad) further in Tyler. They are issuing a Request for Information (RFI) for a "financial partnership" with the private sector to develop the Loop tollroad more fully. A short stretch is already open.  read more »

The government of Puerto Rico has a major public-private partnership (P3) procurement under way for the island state's major toll road - PR22 - but investors are asking what it is: a real toll concession or just a longterm operations contract?
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A statement today issued by Pennsylvania Transportation Partners (PTP)  the Abertis-Citi concessionaire group calls on the Turnpike Commission to engage in a series of debates on a lease versus Act 44 - the state law tolling I-80 and keeping the mainline in the hands of the Commission.
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Transurban, the major investors in the toll concession on the $1.4b project to widen the Capital Beltway (I-495) in Virginia to 12 lanes have gone to financial close June 12 on $589m of Private Activity Bonds. The 40-year tax exempt bonds are costing Transurban a weighted average interest of 4.97%, an improvement on the 5.35% when the initial steps in the financial close were reported in December.
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