Innovative Financing Increases Infrastructure Unvestment
Last July, President Obama announced the Build America Investment Initiative, an Administration-wide effort aimed at boosting private investment in our nation’s infrastructure. And Friday, Vice President Biden announced new steps that federal agencies are taking to bring private sector capital and expertise to bear on improving our nation’s roads, bridges and broadband networks.
These actions and announcements are the first steps that the Administration is taking as part of the Build America Investment Initiative’s two-year action plan.
These steps highlight important progress within DOT. When the President announced this initiative last July, he also called on this Department to launch the Build America Transportation Investment Center. And over the past six months, DOT, the Department of Treasury, and more than a dozen other federal agencies have worked to stand up this crucial team, which serves as a one-stop shop for investors seeking innovative financing strategies for infrastructure projects. The Center focuses on facilitating access to DOT credit programs and helping project sponsors improve project development and delivery. After all, the more projects can move toward completion, the better we can address the Nation’s growing infrastructure deficit.
Today, our work is:
- Facilitating access to hundreds of millions of dollars in credit assistance for vital transportation projects. In FY2014, DOT provided a record $7.5 billion in credit assistance to 13 projects through our TIFIA program, generating more than $25 billion in infrastructure investments.
- Expediting project delivery by providing hands-on technical assistance – for example, we will continue to add additional projects to the Administration’s online permitting dashboard.
- Continuing to develop new technical assistance tools and resources, including the Federal Highway Administration’s model contract provisions, guide to incorporating federal funding into Public-Private Partnerships and many other resources. These are all available at www.dot.gov/buildamerica.
The Build America Transportation Investment Center is already making an impact for projects like the Essex County-Port Newark Container Terminal. This project —a public-private partnership (P3) — is part of a long-term $500 million initiative to expand the terminal by 50 percent, increase productivity, and double cargo handling capacity by 2030. The initiative’s first phase recently received a $14.8 million TIGER Grant to support more efficient freight movement and reduce truck queuing, noise, and emissions. The project partners (the Port Newark Container Terminal, Essex County and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) are working closely with BATIC as they plan the next stage. As Jim Pelliccio, President of the Port Newark Container Terminal said, “We really see working with BATIC as a tremendous opportunity to leverage both public and private resources to develop innovative infrastructure that creates value in the supply chain.”
Importantly, private capital is not a substitute for public investment. That’s why President Obama has repeatedly called on Congress to increase public funding for our highways, bridges, and transit system. Last spring, the Administration proposed the GROW AMERICA Act, a four-year, $302 billion surface transportation reauthorization proposal. Because Congress failed to act on this common-sense proposal, leaving public funding in question, the President will continue to do whatever he can to steer private capital toward revitalizing American infrastructure.
And this Department will continue to do whatever we can to support that effort.
[Source: U.S. Dept. of Transportation Fast Lane blog]
