Wanna buy a bridge?
-
- March
- 5
The Westchester County Association is meeting with Wall Street firms to drum up interest in investing in the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Association President William M. Mooney Jr. said yesterday that some firms have infrastructure funds designed to take stakes in public property that generates income. The Tappan Zee, whose rehabilitation bill could exceed $14 billion, fits the definition.
Mooney declined to identify the firms, and he added that he wasn’t advocating privatization as a solution. But given remarks last month by New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli that the state couldn’t afford the bill itself, Mooney said, it wouldn’t hurt to talk to financiers about the prospects of a sale.
“They said there would be a high degree of interest,� he said. Part of the attraction stems from the perceived safety of public infrastructure as an investment, a quality of no small significance given the problems with real estate lending in the past year.
The state could also put up some cash in a deal as well, Mooney said. Covenants could be placed on the bridge to prohibit onerous toll increases if investors decide to sell their stake later on.
DiNapoli’s view that a public-private partnership is needed to pay for TZ rehab provides “a new sense of urgency,� Mooney said. “By laying it on the line as bluntly as he did, Comptroller DiNapoli has presented our business community and our elected officials with a challenge to seek a creative solution.�
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 at 6:02 pm by Jerry Gleeson.
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