Pennsylvania announces turnpike-leasing bid

Pennsylvania announces turnpike-leasing bid       Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell said a consortia has bid
$12.8 billion for a 75-year lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
      The winning bidder was a team led by Citi Infrastructure Investors and Abertis Infraestructuras, with Criteria CaixaCorp investing as a major shareholder of Abertis.
      'We urgently need new funding for road and bridge repair, and a turnpike lease will help us meet that need,' Rendell said.
      'Under the terms and conditions we set, the turnpike will be upgraded and tolls will be no higher than the Turnpike Commission will charge. Where Pennsylvanians will see a major difference is on our other roads. Road repair all over the state will accelerate and we will be able to cancel the plan to impose tolls on Interstate 80,'   
he said.
      The $12.8 billion lease payment would be dedicated to road and bridge repair and support 73 public transit agencies across the state, Rendell's office said.
      'The commonwealth will retain ownership of the turnpike while the concessionaire will be held to the highest operating standards,'   
Rendell said. 'They also plan to put more than $5.5 billion of their own money into repairing and upgrading the road, and will have to meet strict quality standards imposed by the commonwealth.'
      By investing the money for the long term, the lease plan would generate annual payouts for transportation over the 75-year life of the lease. These payments would average 13 percent higher than the maximum available under the I-80 tolling plan, assuming investment returns equal to the average earnings of the Pennsylvania State Employee Retirement System over the past 20 years.
      Unsuccessful bids for the roadway were submitted by groups led by Goldman Sachs and Macquarie.
      Citi Infrastructure Investors is a division of Citigoup family of companies. Abertis is one of the world's largest private toll road operator, managing 2,000 miles of toll roads directly and another 3,000 miles indirectly in 10 countries on four continents.