Miami Tunnel PPP on Track for Financial Close
With its October 1 deadline for financial close nearing, the Port of Miami Tunnel (POMT) procurement appears on track, with a ten-bank club having this week committed the necessary support for the anticipated $354M bank debt, supplementing a $354M TIFIA loan. Both figures are in line with the concessionaire’s earlier estimates for the $1B project. (See June 4, 2009 article for procurement details.)
The Florida DOT, the city of Miami, and Miami-Dade county will compensate the developer via availability payments, making the POMT the second US PPP to use this mechanism. Florida’s I-595 express lanes, the first availability-payment project, reached financial close in March 2009.
(Project Finance Int’l 9/9/09, Public Works Financing 6/09)