Infra Insight Blog

The Canadian government is taking a new approach to P3s.  By the end of 2017, PPP Canada will have ceased operations, and the Canada Infrastructure Bank (the CIB) will be launched.

Year end is nearly upon us.  What has PPP Canada accomplished, and what is expected from the new CIB?

PPP Canada’s Contributions

PPP Canada was established by the Harper government in 2008.  At that time, certain provinces were already very experienced in the delivery of large and complex public infrastructure projects using P3 delivery models (including British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario).  The specific ...

The United States has the largest emerging public-private partnership (P3) market in the world for infrastructure projects. Due to decreased tax revenue and shrinking budgets, many state and local governments in the southern United States have embraced alternative methods of project delivery. Public entities in the southern United States boast some of the most extensive P3 experience in the U.S. and it dates back to before the turn of the century with the Pocahontas Parkway in Virginia, Texas, and Florida pioneering several complex P3s.

Public officials and industry partners ...

Although historically the investment profile for pension funds has focused on established brownfields assets, the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has recently invested $525 million AUD into the greenfields NorthConnex road tunnel in Sydney, Australia in partnership with experienced road operator Transurban and the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC). CPPIB’s investment comes hot on the heels of the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System’s (DPFPS) 2010 equity investment in Texas’ LBJ  Freeway (I‐635) managed lanes toll-road, among other ...

Florida Governor Rick Scott broke ground yesterday on the I-4 Ultimate Project, which will rebuild I-4 in metro-Orlando. The Project involves the reconstruction of 21 miles of I-4 from west of Kirkman Road in Orange County to east of State Road 434 in Seminole County and promises to bring much needed relief to one of the most congested highways in the state. Along with developing a signature corridor with aesthetic enhancements and landscaping to convey the Florida Experience, the Project will provide a choice to motorists by adding two variable priced toll express lanes in each ...

At the TRB P3 Subcommittee meeting on January 12, 2015, among the topics discussed is the growth in the U.S. P3 market of the availability payment approach and less use of toll concessions.  Availability payment contracts have the advantage of lowering financing costs, incentivizing high quality performance and keeping toll setting authority with the public owner.  However, there may be a limit to the amount of annual payments a public agency is willing to commit itself to make.  Toll concessions shift demand and revenue risk to the private sector and interest particularly among ...

In the modern U.S. history of public-private partnerships, the prevailing project delivery models have been the toll concession and the availability payment contract.  In both cases, the private party raises equity and debt financing and takes responsibility and risk for completing design, constructing and providing long-term operations and maintenance.  The major difference between the two is that in the toll concession the private party takes the revenue risk and secures its debt with project toll revenues, while the public owner takes the project revenue risk under an ...

City of Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard announced today that WMB Heartland Justice Partners was selected as the Preferred Offeror to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the new Marion County Consolidated Justice Facility.  WMB Heartland Justice Partners is comprised of equity members Walsh Investors, LLC, Meridiam Infrastructure Indy Justice, LLC, and Balfour Beatty Investments, Inc.

In making the announcement, Mayor Ballard said of the project: It will solve so many problems, so many problems that contribute to our existing facilities being outdated, inefficient ...

The Florida Department of Transportation reached commercial and financial close on the I-4 Ultimate Project in the urban Orlando area.  The $2.3 billion deal is the third transportation P3 project in Florida developed through an availability payment structure, and is the largest availability payment transaction ever undertaken in the United States.

FDOT entered into an agreement with I-4 Mobility Partners OpCo LLC, a consortium led by Skanska Infrastructure Development Inc. and John Laing Investments Limited.  The Concessionaire will design, construct, finance, maintain and ...

The Design-Build Institute of America announced today the 2013 Design-Build in Transportation Awards, which will be presented on March 19, 2013 at the 2013 Design-Build in Transportation Conference in Orlando, Florida.

The California Department of Transportation was named 2013 Transportation Owner Agency of the Year.  Caltrans has made great strides with design-build recently through its Design-Build Demonstration Program.  Caltrans also reached financial close this year on its high profile Presidio Parkway project, which will use the design-build-finance-operate and ...

On December 27, 2012, the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) achieved commercial close of the East End Crossing project in southern Indiana, part of the broader Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.  WVB East End Partners, LLC (WVB), is the private counterparty for the East End Crossing project under an availability payment concession, a first for Walsh and VINCI in an equity role in the US P3 market.  The parties reached agreement and executed the public-private agreement before the end of the year as scheduled, capping an extraordinary procurement on an expedited ...

On November 16, 2012, the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) selected WVB East End Partners (WVB) as the Preferred Proposer for IFA’s East End Crossing project in southern Indiana.  WVB East End Partners is a joint venture consortium of Walsh Investors, LLC, VINCI Concessions S.A.S. and Bilfinger Berger PI International Holding GmbH, partnering with Walsh Construction Company and VINCI Construction Grand Projets as the builders, with Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. as the designer, and with others.  VINCI Concessions S.A.S. will be performing the operations and maintenance of the ...

On November 16, 2012, the board of the Indiana Finance Authority (IFA), with Governor Daniels in attendance, based on the recommendation of Kendra York, IFA’s Public Finance Director, approved the preliminary selection of WVB East End Partners as the preferred proposer for the East End Crossing project, Indiana’s second foray into public-private partnerships as a solution to infrastructure planning for the State.  The East End Crossing is Indiana’s part of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project (the ORB Project).  WVB East End Partners is a joint ...