Governor's office says "inundated" by submissions for Pennsylvania Turnpike

A statement from the office of Governor Edward Rendell says the state Department of Transportation was "inundated" today by submissions from some 14 teams vying to pay the state for the right to operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike under a longterm concession or lease. They released a list of the companies that responded to the recent Request for Qualifications - see below.

Rendell notes that opposition is building to implementation of Act 44's funding under which the Turnpike Commission would toll I-80. This could "destroy a significant portion of Act 44's financial foundation" Rendell says.

The Governor is quoted: "There’s a good chance this process will yield a sizeable bid for the right to operate and manage the Pennsylvania Turnpike. If the high bid is large enough, I will take it to the General Assembly to consider whether it makes sense to adopt the required legislation needed to accept a bid and generate the extra revenue we still need to address bridge and other transportation needs."

Rendell's statement says that over the coming days they will evaluate the responses to determine which are qualified to bid, adding: "With this level of interest, we owe it to taxpayers to continue exploring the opportunities that might be available through this process."

For details see

http://www.dot.state.pa.us/internet/paturnpikelease

Many of the big international toll operators are there - Abertis, Cintra, Macquarie, OHL, Transurban - and a lot of financial groups large, medium and small with heavy Canadian representation.

However there are few construction and engineering companies.

There's hardly a single Pennsylvania group, reportedly because the Turnpike has been threatening that they'll be blacklisted. A Turnpike "employees and partners" group is among those seeking qualification - Brimmeier's Irregulars?

Citigroup is behind the rival monetization plan by the Turnpike Commission embodied in Act 44 so there's some hutzpah in having a Citi subsidiary on the Governor's list.

The list of companies responding with statements of qualifications is alphabetically arranged by the governor's office and doesn't indicate the teaming:
•    Abertis Infrastructuras                                              •    ACS Infrastructure Development Group                   
•    AIG Financial Products Corp                                      
•    Babcock & Brown
•    Borealis
•    Canada Pension Plan Investment Board
•    Cintra                                                       
•    Citi Infrastructure Investors
•    Colonial First State Global Asset Management
•    Global Via Infrastructuras S.A. (GVI)   
•    Goldman, Sachs & Co.
•    HH Capital Advisors
•    Industry Funds Management (IFM)    
•    Isolux Corsán
•    JE Jacobs
•    John Hancock Financial Services                          
•    JP Morgan Investment Management Inc.
•    Macquarie Infrastructure Partners Inc. (MIP)
•    Merrill Lynch
•    North American Strategic Infrastructure Partners LLC
•    OHL Concesiones SL
•    OHL Infrastructure Inc.
•    OHL SA
•    Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board
•    PA Turnpike Employees and Partners LLC
•    POPT LLC
•    RREEF
•    Santander Capital Riesgo Global
•    The Herrick Company Inc.                                
•    Transfield Services                                                     
•    Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund
•    Transurban USA Inc.
•    UBS Investment Bank - Infrastructure Fund
•    VMS Inc.
TOLLROADSnews 2007-10-01