FDOT Eyes P3 Restart

A Florida Department of Transportation project engineer said Monday that the agency is evaluating whether to restart the nearly $2 billion concession project near Jacksonville known as the First Coast Outer Beltway.

FDOT had received qualifications from four groups about a year ago, but then stopped the concession process until questions were settled about whether the concessionaire would be liable for paying property taxes.

The state had planned to use a public-private partnership to build a four-lane, 46.5 mile limited-access toll road between Interstate 95 in St. Johns County and Interstate 10 in Duval County.

Gov. Charlie Crist on June 1 signed a bill exempting public-private partnerships from paying property taxes.

“FDOT is currently evaluating the schedule and financial feasibility of the project,” department project development engineer James Knight said in an e-mail Monday. “No decision has been made concerning when to restart the procurement.”

When the procurement is restarted notices will be posted at a special Web site for the Jacksonville Beltway project at www.fdotfirstcoastouterbeltway.com.

In a related development concerning Florida P3s, FDOT on Tuesday short-listed six firms out of 13 that had responded to an invitation to negotiate to be part of a pool of financial consultants for state P3 projects.

The six firms in the order they ranked are Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates, Castalia LLC, KPMG, PRAG-PA, Deloitte Touche LLP, and Infrastructure Management Group Inc.

FDOT has not said how many firms it intends to have in the pool. Contracts will run through June 30, 2011, with options to renew for an additional three years.

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Transportation industry
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