Miami “committed” to port tunnel

Miami “committed” to port tunnel    A spokesman for Miami Mayor Manny Diaz said city commissioners are expected to vote next week to approve a $50 million line of credit that is part of the financing package needed to build a new tunnel to move freight in and out of the port.
   The Daily Bond Buyer newspaper reported Tuesday a Miami city attorney had raised “last-minute questions” about a $50 million letter of credit that the city was expected to approve last week, and that the Florida Department of Transportation had expressed concern that delay past Oct. 1 could jeopardize federal funding for the project.
   “The city and FDOT are still in conversations to make sure that this deal gets done. We are still very committed to getting the port tunnel off the ground and we believe that we will be able to take this in front of our commission by Oct. 8,” Helena Poleo, a spokesman for the Miami mayor told American Shipper. “We have an extension and we don’t foresee any problem.”
   In June the State of Florida and the city said they had agreed to work toward a financial close on the project by Oct. 1. Miami-Dade County has also approved a $75 million line of credit for the project, which is slated to be built in a public-private partnership with a group called MAT Concessionaire LLC, co-owned by Meridiam Infrastructure Finance SARL in Luxembourg and Bourgues Travaux Publics in France.