Hoosier governor pushes toll roads at the other end of the I-69 Corridor
Macquarie Infrastructure gears up for Indiana toll bid
January 20, 2006
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright 2006
MACQUARIE Infrastructure Group is expected to lodge a bid for the latest US toll road to hit the selling block, the 253-kilometre Indiana Toll Road.
MIG has already signalled its interest in the highway, which runs along the north of Indiana from the Illinois to Ohio state lines. Bids for the project are due by tomorrow.
The Republican Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, is then expected to push for legislation to be passed to privatise the road.
The road connects with the Chicago Skyway, which is 45 per cent owned by MIG and only a year ago became the first existing toll road to be privatised in the US.
On Monday, Governor Daniels will announce the range of the bids. It has been estimated a 75-year concession of the Indiana Toll Road to a private operator will fetch the state as much as $US3 billion ($4 billion).
However, opposition to the lease remains fierce even among some of Governor Daniels's fellow Republicans, according to the Indiana media.
The lease of the road forms a key to funds for Governor Daniels's 10-year program to upgrade Indiana's highway network.
There are concerns a private operator could raise tolls to unacceptable levels. The Governor announced a 72 per cent increase in tolls on the road last September, the first in two decades. The road was built in 1956 and collected $US85 million in tolls in 2004.
The Indiana Toll Road is part of the Interstate-90 which runs across the US, from Boston to Seattle. It also forms part of the I-80 which runs from New Jersey to San Francisco.
Melbourne's Transurban, which has so far focused its attention in the US on toll roads in Virginia and Texas, is not in the race for the road. But competition for the Indiana Toll Road is said to be fierce. The Spanish infrastructure groups Cintra and Ferrovial are said to be interested, along with Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure, which part owns Sydney's Cross-City Tunnel.
The State of Indiana has hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate the long-term lease of the toll road.
It is expected to be at least another month before MIG gains European Union regulatory clearance for its joint bid for Europe's third largest tolled motorway network, France's Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhŏne (APRR). Eiffage and MIG were named as the preferred bidders on a 70.2 per cent interest in the 2205-kilometre APRR last month.
If given the regulatory go-ahead, Eiffage-MIG will launch a full takeover for APRR, valuing the road network at $11.3 billion. MIG will have a 28 per cent interest in the concession which expires in 2032.
Scott Rochfort
Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald www.smh.com.au
January 20, 2006
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright 2006
MACQUARIE Infrastructure Group is expected to lodge a bid for the latest US toll road to hit the selling block, the 253-kilometre Indiana Toll Road.
MIG has already signalled its interest in the highway, which runs along the north of Indiana from the Illinois to Ohio state lines. Bids for the project are due by tomorrow.
The Republican Governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, is then expected to push for legislation to be passed to privatise the road.
The road connects with the Chicago Skyway, which is 45 per cent owned by MIG and only a year ago became the first existing toll road to be privatised in the US.
On Monday, Governor Daniels will announce the range of the bids. It has been estimated a 75-year concession of the Indiana Toll Road to a private operator will fetch the state as much as $US3 billion ($4 billion).
However, opposition to the lease remains fierce even among some of Governor Daniels's fellow Republicans, according to the Indiana media.
The lease of the road forms a key to funds for Governor Daniels's 10-year program to upgrade Indiana's highway network.
There are concerns a private operator could raise tolls to unacceptable levels. The Governor announced a 72 per cent increase in tolls on the road last September, the first in two decades. The road was built in 1956 and collected $US85 million in tolls in 2004.
The Indiana Toll Road is part of the Interstate-90 which runs across the US, from Boston to Seattle. It also forms part of the I-80 which runs from New Jersey to San Francisco.
Melbourne's Transurban, which has so far focused its attention in the US on toll roads in Virginia and Texas, is not in the race for the road. But competition for the Indiana Toll Road is said to be fierce. The Spanish infrastructure groups Cintra and Ferrovial are said to be interested, along with Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Infrastructure, which part owns Sydney's Cross-City Tunnel.
The State of Indiana has hired Goldman Sachs to evaluate the long-term lease of the toll road.
It is expected to be at least another month before MIG gains European Union regulatory clearance for its joint bid for Europe's third largest tolled motorway network, France's Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhŏne (APRR). Eiffage and MIG were named as the preferred bidders on a 70.2 per cent interest in the 2205-kilometre APRR last month.
If given the regulatory go-ahead, Eiffage-MIG will launch a full takeover for APRR, valuing the road network at $11.3 billion. MIG will have a 28 per cent interest in the concession which expires in 2032.
Scott Rochfort
Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, January 19, 2006
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