MTA Pining for Projects

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not given up hope on nearly $2.7 billion of capital projects that officials last month proposed delaying until the 2010-2015 capital plan.

The MTA expects to reinstate any stalled infrastructure projects if Richard Ravitch’s special commission can find ways to fund them.

The Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing will submit its recommendations by Dec. 5. The 13-member panel is currently drafting a long-term funding proposal to address potential budget shortfalls and capital needs through 2018.

The MTA last week said if the commission finds funding sources for any or all of the $2.7 billion of capital projects currently in financing limbo due to escalating costs, the authority will begin construction on that infrastructure. The delayed projects include renovations to 19 subway stations.

“In light of the significance of the projects on the deferral list, we intend to complete them as quickly as possible,” MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said in a prepared statement. “If the Ravitch Commission identifies funding for them, and the state Legislature allocates it during the life of the current 2005-2009 capital program, the MTA will submit a new amendment that reinstates these projects.”

In April, New York Gov. David Paterson announced that he would implement a committee headed by Ravitch, a former MTA chairman, to evaluate the authority’s financial needs after the Assembly rejected a congestion-pricing program that would have secured $4.5 billion of MTA borrowing. Last month, the governor appointed 12 members to the commission.

The 2010-2015 capital plan already has a $15 billion to $20 billion shortfall and the 2009 operating budget faces a more than $500 million funding gap, forcing the MTA to consider additional fare increases, executive director Elliot Sander said at the last board meeting in late June.

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