Quote:
Originally Posted by Road_Warrior
I must say I find the whole concept of a privately developed and operated piece of road infrastructure to be foreign and puzzling. What happens in a case like this when the owner goes belly up, does the government get it by default, does the tunnel close etc?
At least in Wait Awhile the government builds, operates and maintains everything, even if we have to wait a generation for it!
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Can't say about other states, but in NSW if the owner goes bust, the Government usually bails them out & gets a higher percentage ownership, or full ownership in the road, (pretty sure most toll roads in NSW are co-owned, Private-Government to start with any way).
The private companies also are under contract for a certain amount of years to operate them, (eg. 50 years), then the Government takes full ownership & control.
The private operator charges tolls to get back building costs, pay for maintenance & make a profit (if they can).
When the Government get's full ownership at the contract end, tolls are removed as per F3 Freeway & M4 Motorway in Sydney.
The NSW Government (RMS) fully owns & operates the Sydney Harbour Bridge & Sydney Harbour Tunnel. Ongoing tolls there, are for continual maintenance & general revenue, all other motorways (toll roads), become Freeways.
Cross City Tunnel gets handed back Dec. 2035
Eastern
Distributor gets handed back July 2048
Hills M2 gets handed back May 2042
Lane Cove Tunnel gets handed back January 2037
M5 South-West gets handed back August 2023
M5 East is owned by the NSW Government, but operated by a private company on behalf of the Government, (There are no tolls here).
Westlink M7 gets handed back February 2037
Funding & building them privately allows them to be built now, instead of waiting 10-15+ years for the Government to have funding for them.