Project Financing and Implementation
| MAT reached financial close for the Port of Miami Tunnel in October 2009. MAT's financing sources for the project include a $341 million TIFIA loan (plus $40.1 million in capitalized interest); $341.5 million in short-term commercial bank debt provided by a "club" of 10 banks; and $80 million in equity from the partners in the concession. The TIFIA loan is backed by the availability payments due to MAT. Under the concession agreement, FDOT provided MAT a total of $100 million in milestone payments during the construction period between 2010 and 2014. FDOT also made a $350 million final acceptance payment to MAT upon construction completion, which the concession company used to retire the short-term bank debt. In addition, FDOT has incurred $209.8 million in project-related costs for preliminary engineering and right-of-way acquisition. | Port of Miami Tunnel
|
During the 30-year operational period, MAT will receive annual availability payments totaling $32.479 million (in 2009$), with adjustments for inflation. Deductions will be made from this amount if MAT's operation of the facility does not meet prescribed performance standards.
Total capital and operating costs over the life of the concession through October 2044 are projected to be $2.65 billion (in year-of-expenditure dollars). Funding for these lifetime expenditures comes from $221 million in Federal-aid highway funds; $1.89 billion in State funds; and $528 million in county and city funds.
As part of the P3 concession, FDOT created a $180 million geotechnical contingency fund to mitigate risk of unforeseen construction costs due to the technically risky bored tunnel construction method. Construction on the tunnel began in May 2010 and the tunnel opened to traffic in August 2014.