Clock Ticking on P3 Deal for Pennsylvania Turnpike

Time is running out on a $12.8 billion proposal to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 75 years as the measure continues to stall in committee and could fail to receive a formal vote before the legislature's two-year session ends on Dec. 31.

The concession agreement would allow the state to lease the 530-mile Turnpike to Citi and Abertis Infraestructuras, a joint consortium, in a public-private partnership. In return for the management rights, the state would gain the $12.8 billion upfront payment and Citi/Abertis would also finance the Turnpike's $5.5 billion, 10-year capital program.

Yet Rep. Joseph Markosek, chairman of House Transportation Committee, said he does not support the concession agreement and will not hold a vote on the bill to move it out of committee and onto the House floor.

"I think it's a bad policy decision, but also this particular deal is not sufficient by any means and should be rejected," said Markosek, a Democrat from Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

He said that Gov. Edward Rendell was in "unchartered waters" when he opened up the Turnpike earlier this year to the highest bidder without the state having prior P3 legislation on its books.

"I think we need to address that legislatively so in the future when we attempt these kinds of things there's a process and there's an equal playing field, and everybody knows the rules going in and everybody has an equal chance and a fair chance," Markosek said.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said that the governor has reached out to lawmakers in both chambers in an attempt to move the concession agreement proposal forward, but there is only so much the Democratic governor can do.

"The governor has a limited ability. It's up to the legislators to find a way around that impasse," Ardo said. "He has made it clear that this is an important piece of legislation and he has made that clear to legislative leaders and rank and file members. There's little more that he could do."

Conversely, Johnna Pro, spokeswoman for Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, who cosponsored the concession-agreement bill, said it's up to the governor "to try to make some movement happen here."

Pro said Evans is still hoping the measure could move forward before the end of the two-year legislative session. Both chambers will recess next month before the November elections.

"I don't expect anything major to happen. Now, having said that, I've been around this place long enough to know that anything that looks dead can come right back to life in a second," Pro said.

All eyes returned to the $12.8 billion Citi/Abertis agreement last week after the Federal Highway Administration denied the Turnpike's application to implement tolls on Interstate 80.

The tolling plan, one financing strategy in Act 44, passed by the Pennsylvania legislature last year, would have allowed the state's Department of Transportation to lease the 311-mile roadway to the Turnpike in a P3 agreement in return for yearly payments. Without tolls on I-80, Act 44 generates fewer funds for the state's roadways as the Turnpike will now pay $450 million less each year beginning in fiscal 2011 to PennDOT.

The Turnpike runs east-west along the southern region of the state from New Jersey to Ohio while I-80 runs parallel to the Turnpike through the state's central region.

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