privatization

We quote: "Hang Seng Index finishes 0.8% higher at midday

"Sep. 11, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Hong Kong stocks swelled 167.92 points or 0.8% to end the morning session at 21,237.48 points, with mainboard turnover standing at HK$33.9 billion.

It takes three Reuters reporters to get the story completely wrong. They say in a piece running today that "the Abertis-Citigroup team let their Turnpike privatization offer lapse after a series of polls showed it was unpopular with voters."

Legislation (SB1550) is smoothly moving through the Virginia general assembly providing authority to the City of Chesapeake's plan for emergency replacement by privatization of the Jordan toll bridge which was declared unsafe and closed last November 8.

A little history is prompted by this nice picture of "a bridge on the Delaware River" we found on the web by a local photographer. It is confirmed by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission as their Washington Crossing Bridge 8 miles (13km) upstream of Trenton.

Citi Infrastructure Investors (Citi) who were 41% of the partnership with Abertis that didn't get the Pennsylvania Turnpike have just got Midway Airport, the #2 airport in Chicago under a 99 year concession with the City of Chicago for $2.52 billion. Concessions on airports in the US are even rarer than on tollroads.

Excerpt from article on oped page of Yorkshire Post, York UK

"Congestion has now spread out from the larger cities to small towns and sections of rural motorway (in Yorkshire). The Government has failed to respond adequately to consumer demand and the resulting delays are becoming increasingly costly.

"It's no wonder that motorists feel ripped off. They pay large amounts in tax but get a poor standard of service in return.

Massachusetts officials are looking at a variety of measures to generate more funds for transport, local reports say. The Boston Globe reports the chairman of the legislature's joint transportation committee Senator Steven Baddour (Dem) as saying that "everything needs to be on the table".

An opinion survey just out shows the Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell as having a public approval rating 53% favorable to 37% unfavorable, a slippage from the 61% to 30% support in February and from the 57% to 33% in late March. Rendell has been heavily involved in advocacy of Turnpike privatization – the principal political issue before the Pennsylvania public this year.

The Florida state house has passed HB7033, a bill allowing the state transport department (FDOT) to "lease toll facilities to private entities." The bill passed the full house 74 to 40 on March 22. Intent of the legislature is "to strengthen the state's transportation system by providing the department with innovative financing techniques, including, but not limited to, public private partnerships, toll facility leases, and user fees."