Another bit of Indiana

With the Indiana Toll Road lease getting the go-ahead from the courts after the remonstrators were shot down in the proceedings for lack of evidence in their reasonings against it, and their being unable to put up a $1.9 billion dollar bond, it seems that we are (again) giving up some control over our local airport installation management.

LINK TO INDY STAR

BAA, the British operator of Indianapolis International Airport, is being bought for $19 billion by Grupo Ferrovial SA , the Spanish company that's leasing the Indiana Toll Road in partnership with an Australian bank.

Ferrovial holds a 60 percent stake in England’s Bristol airport and 31 percent of Belfast City airport, and it also manages the Sydney airport in Australia and Antofagasta airport in Chile.

The company also manages 19 toll roads in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Chile, Canada and the United States, and is a partner with the state of Texas in designing the $175 billion Trans-Texas Corridor railway and highway project.

Why are we unwilling or incapable of managing our own airports and toll roads?

It is my understanding that there is a clause in the toll road lease that demands payment from the State of Indiana if the tolls collected fall below a certain minimum monetary amount, so if truck drivers or cars start using alternate roads to bypass the tolls, then we, the taxpayers, have to ante up the difference.

Even my local water supply is owned by an out-of-country company that sells the water to our local government.

I just don't understand why we don't manage our own resources.

JDub

[edit on 6/6/2006 by BlueTileSpook]