Louis Armstrong International Airport this week got the go-ahead from the federal government to pursue private investors interesting in leasing the airport long-term, a move that could provide the city with cash while loosening its grip on one of the area's major economic assets, according to two recent reports. Join discussion...

U.S. voters are increasingly supportive of privatized investment in the country's infrastructure, especially in lieu of tax increases or budget cuts, according to a new poll sponsored by investment banking firm Lazard (LAZ.N). Join discussion...

THE Queensland Government will struggle to get the $15 billion it wants for the five port, road and rail assets it put up for sale yesterday, because of a lack of buyers and a massive devaluation of infrastructure in the past two years. The market was surprised by the decision to sell Queensland Motorways (valued by the Bligh Government at $3 billion), the Port of Brisbane (valued at $3.5billion), Forest Plantations Queensland ($500 million), Queensland Rail's coal freight business ($7 billion) and the Abbot Point Coal Terminal ($1.9billion). Join discussion...

Andrew Bary's recent piece "The Long and Binding Road," in Barron's has been widely noticed. "The credit market collapse and political opposition have all but killed the U.S. highway privatization trend," the respected commentator opined in his article. What is more, Bary wrote, the Indiana Toll Road deal "was one of the most illogical prices paid for any major piece of transportation infrastructure during the bubble period of 2005 to 2007," suggesting that Macquarie made a huge miscalculation. Gov. Mitch Daniel's comment ("It was the best deal since Manhattan was sold for beads...") did not help, implying that the State got the better of the naive Macquarie. The article concluded, "for toll road investors, what had promised to be a pleasant ride has turned into a painful trip," citing Macquarie's shares tumbling 50% in the past year. Join discussion...

"It was the best deal since Manhattan was sold for beads." That's what Indiana's Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, told Barron's recently, referring to the privatization of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road—a deal that netted the state $3.8 billion. Back when Jim Ridgeway and I wrote about this deal, and the larger infrastructure privatization trend that was being pushed along by the Bush administration and Wall Street (Goldman Sachs in particular), there was some question as to whether Hoosiers were getting a good deal. One local economist had estimated that the value of the road, under the terms of the state's 75-year lease agreement with the Spanish construction firm Cintra and Australia-based Macquarie Infrastructure Group, could be as much as $11 billion. Surely he didn't anticiapte a major spike in gas prices and an economic meltdown, factors that took a serious toll on toll revenues. Join discussion...

Last month, the $2.5 billion deal to lease Chicago's Midway Airport to a private operator fell through because investors -- Vancouver Airport Services, Citigroup, and John Hancock Insurance Company -- could not secure the necessary financing. Had the deal gone through, Midway would have been the first major U.S. airport to be privately run under a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program that Congress created in 1997. Join discussion...

New York could open the door to public-private partnerships, Governor David Paterson said on Monday, though plans for these kinds of long-term highway leases collapsed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Paterson's "Asset Maximization" commission in an interim report said it would study privatizing assets ranging from infrastructure to schools, but it missed its April 2 deadline for a final report. Join discussion...

Even as Gov. Ted Strickland prepares to give his State of the State address this Wednesday, Jan. 28, Republican state Rep. William Batchelder, the Ohio House minority leader from Medina, said he’s willing to listen to proposals to privatize the Ohio Turnpike or other state-owned or -operated facilities. Join discussion...

City officials in Long Beach, Calif., are considering a proposal to privatize Long Beach Airport, whose Art Deco terminal is a historic landmark in the region. Join discussion...

Dhananjay Dhawad, chief engineer of MSRDC’s Aurangabad region, said of the total 700 km road, work on 570 kilometres patch, mainly including 431 km stretch from Nagpur to Sindkhedraja, was complete. The remaining 269 kilometres patch between Jalna and Ghoti (that falls between Nasik and Thane on Nasik-Mumbai highway) is yet to be finished except a small stretch between Puntambe near Vaijapur and Sinnar. Join discussion...