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Mon, May. 19, 2008
Spanish firm offers $12.8 billion to lease Pa. Turnpike
By Paul Nussbaum INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
A Spanish toll-road operator won the bidding war to operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike, offering $12.8 billion for a 75-year lease, Gov. Rendell said today. The proposal by Abertis Infraestructuras, of Barcelona, must be approved by the Pennsylvania legislature, and legislative leaders in Harrisburg have said the plan faces tough sledding with lawmakers.
Vaughn Palmer
Vancouver Sun
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
VICTORIA - The B.C. Liberals have issued a comprehensive defence of their plan to widen Highway 1 and twin the Port Mann Bridge, saying it will bring almost $4 billion in benefits and have a "negligible" impact on regional air quality.
The government's case is set out in four volumes of material, released last week as part of an application to the environmental assessment office for approval of the project.
The Liberals propose to build the estimated $2-billion project via a public-private partnership, with five years of construction and a 35-year operating agreement all financed by tolls on the bridge crossing. The government submission argues the project will benefit the economy through improved movement of goods, commuters through reduced congestion, and the region through improved transportation.
It calculates a net benefit of $3.8 billion over the 35-year operating agreement, even after discounting the cost of construction.
While that cost-benefit analysis relies on a number of debatable assumptions, the most controversial part of the submission is likely to be the report on regional air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.
They're both en route in Pa., N.J.
By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer
Would you pay $34 to drive the Pennsylvania Turnpike? How about $11 for the New Jersey Turnpike? Or $8 for the Garden State Parkway?
Those are the billion-dollar questions for private companies interested in leasing the toll roads.
In figuring out the price tag for a turnpike, nothing is as important to a private bidder as future tolls. If drivers will pay more - and not divert in droves to other roads - companies will offer more for the toll road.
Morgan Stanley & Co., hired by Gov. Rendell to advise his administration on leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, is expected to publicly release its recommendations later this month.
"It all depends on the tolls," said one banker who asked not to be identified because his company is involved in the bidding for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. "You want an equitable toll rate, one that isn't so high that people don't want to take the road or so low that you get a lot of congestion."
Title: The Evolution of Urban Regime Theory: The Challenge of Conceptualization
Source: Urban affairs review [1078-0874] Mossberger yr:2001 vol:36 iss:6 pg:810
Author(s): Mossberger, Karen ; Stoker, Gerry
Abstract: Urban regime theory came to prominence with the publication of Clarence Stone's study of Atlanta in 1989, although earlier work by Fainstein and Fainstein (1983) and Elkin (1987) has also been influential. Since then, regime analysis has been extensively used to examine urban politics both inside North America and beyond. The authors argue that the wide use of regime analysis is a recognition of its value and insights but that some applications have stretched the concept beyond its original meaning to the point that the concept itself runs the risk of becoming meaningless and a source of theoretical confusion. By sifting through the extensive literature applying regime theory, the authors reestablish the core components of the concept and identify the key fields where it has made a contribution. It is suggested that regime analysis has helped considerably in reorienting the power debate in North America and in facilitating the analysis of politics beyond the formal institutions of the government outside North America.
Identifier: urban regime theory, comparative urban politics, public-private partnerships, concept stretching
Fattah's plan: Lease airport
He would use the proceeds of the deal to reduce the city's child poverty rate.
By Michael Currie Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writer
Mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah wants to lease out Philadelphia International Airport and use the proceeds to fund an ambitious initiative to slash the city's child poverty rate.
Fattah, a U.S. congressman, is to unveil the idea, part of a plan he calls his "opportunity agenda," this morning. He said in an interview yesterday that the agenda would also include proposals to reduce business and wage taxes, as well as details about how to pay for the many new programs he has promised on the campaign trail.
Under Fattah's proposal, the airport would be leased to a for-profit firm, an arrangement Fattah estimated would generate $3 billion. After retiring the debt on the airport, he estimated, the city would have nearly $2 billion left to finance the new social programs.
Option to Rent: Great New Jersey Views, Many Lanes, Tollbooths Included
By KEN BELSON
TRENTON, Jan. 24 - The New Jersey Turnpike has long been the subject of song and an object of scorn. And now Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who earned a reputation as a shrewd negotiator on Wall Street, is thinking seriously about leasing it out, banking on the hope that it and two other toll roads could fetch as much as $30 billion and hold the key to solving some of the state's nagging fiscal difficulties.
Mr. Corzine's need to secure a fiscal Hail Mary pass is evident: budget talks are looming, and other states, including neighboring Pennsylvania, are interested in leasing their own toll roads, which could create stiff competition for investors' dollars in this emerging market. He is also mindful that any deal will have to be sold to wary voters.
Following recent leases of toll roads in Chicago and in Indiana, New Jersey is among two dozen states that have either formed partnerships with private groups or passed legislation paving the way for such agreements. But as lawmakers from California to Virginia have discovered, efforts to take toll roads, prisons, lotteries and other state assets private can quickly become mired in political quicksand.
Polls show that voters in New Jersey oppose the idea, and powerful lobbying groups, from commuters and trucking companies to environmentalists and public employee unions, are also skeptical.