privatisation

The I Squared-backed company will invest an additional $95m in the assets over the course of the 30-year concession it was awarded.

The final contract is set to be signed around November, with the new private sector owners due to start operating the airport on 1 July 2021.

Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announces a scoping study with proceeds to be reinvested in infrastructure in a continuation of the state’s asset recycling programme.

Greece’s privatisation agency agreed an extension to the existing concession agreement through November 2046 in order to make the 30% stake on offer ‘sexier and more attractive’.

Committee for Sydney says the next set of projects has stalled and urges the state government to take action in order to avoid ‘a one-time infrastructure boom’.

Airport PPPs may have been a success but local authorities are still reluctant to transfer other types of assets to the private sector.

The consortium is led by Hokkaido Airport Terminal, which owns the current operator of the island’s busiest airport, New Chitose.

With growing scrutiny of rising debt levels in Australia’s state governments, the stage is set for another round of privatisations.

Resorting to a plebiscite to block the privatisation of airport operator ADP would not only be counterproductive, it would set a dangerous precedent whereby a minority in parliament could block legislation it didn’t like.

Yet other hurdles remain, including a possible referendum on the proposed sale that is pending approval by the Constitutional Council.