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infrastructure
investor
may
2014
Florida is one of the US states
that is considered friendly and
open to using public-private
partnerships (PPP; P3) to
upgrade its transportation
infrastructure.
Todate, the state has either
delivered or is constructing sev-
eral projects in the transporta-
tion sector as P3s.
One currently under way
is the Port of Miami Tunnel,
a $663 million project that
has already been contracted
as a 35-year concession. The
project involves widening the
MacArthur Causeway Bridge
and constructing a tunnel to
provide a direct highway con-
nection to the Port of Miami
onDodge Island fromWatson
Island. It is expected to open
next month.
The project drew atten-
tion last April, when President
Barack Obama chose it as a
backdrop to a speech he deliv-
ered just a fewmonths into his
second term, making the case
s t a t e s
i n
p e r s p e c t i v e
With a couple of large projects under way, new enabling legislation and a
pro-P3 Governor, Florida holds a lot of promise. But the pace of deals has
been sedate so far.
Kalliope Gourntis
reports
In the making
: Port of Miami Tunnel
SPECIAL FEATURE
Friendly and open
for private investment inpublic infra-
structure.
The ‘I-4Ultimate’ is another big-
ticket, high-profile project currently
underway in theSunshineState. Esti-
mated tocost $2.1billion, theproject
will add four tolled lanes along 21
miles of the Interstate 4 highway. It
is under procurement and last June
theFloridaDepartment of Transpor-
tation(FDOT) announceda shortlist
of four teams, as follows:
• ‘4wardPartners’ – ledbyMeridiam
Infrastructure, Vinci Concessions
andWalsh Investors;
• ‘I-4Development Partners’ – team-
ingMacquarieCapital andObras-
con Huarte Lain;
• ‘UltimateMobilityPartners’ – com-
prising InfraRedCapital Partners
and Fluor Enterprises; and
• ‘I-4 Mobility Partners’ – teaming
JohnLaing InvestmentswithSkan-
ska Infrastructure Development.
Proposals were to be submitted
early this yearwithawinner expected
to be announced this spring.
However, no other projects
appear as currently in development
or under procurement on FDOT’s
website which was updated in Feb-
ruary.
Missing fromthe list is the ‘FL54
Xpressway’, an unsolicited proposal
that resulted in FDOT’s launch of
a Request for Proposals (RFP) last
August.
The FL54 Xpressway is a pro-
poseddesign, build, finance, operate
andmaintain(DBFOM) concession
of theFlorida StateRoute 54 (SR54)
and State Route 56 (SR56) corridor
in Pasco County, north of Tampa.
It was conceived by Gerald Stan-
ley, a bridge and road builder who
has worked as a transportation con-
sultant with FDOT, and formed the
‘International InfrastructurePartners’
(IIP) consortiumspecifically for this
project.
Other members of the IIP con-
sortium include financial services
firm Guggenheim Partners and
construction company PCL.
The rationale for the FL54
Xpressway, according to Stanley, is
that “there is no east-west route in
