Fed: Govt's tight Budget forcing airport sale by June: source
By Jim Hanna, Economics Correspondent
CANBERRA, Feb 18 AAP - A tight budgetary situation has forced the government to pushfor the Sydney Airport sale to be completed this financial year, one of the bidding consortiasaid today.
It is understood Prime Minister John Howard intervened to have the sale process putback on the agenda, after it was withdrawn 13 days after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Airport values plummeted in the wake of the attacks, jeopardising the hoped-for $4.5billion privatisation.
"The government wants to get it back on the agenda well and truly in March with a viewto concluding the sale by June," a source told AAP.
"Whether that's feasible or not is another story."
"The word we're hearing - we haven't got anything official - but from a very good source,ie, from the prime minister's area himself, they want it back on next month.
"What we're hearing is that they're a bit light on for cash and this will come in very handy."
Finance Minister Nick Minchin denied the government needed to sell the airport urgently.
"There's no deadline for the sale," a spokeswoman for Senator Minchin told AAP.
Last week, Department of Finance figures showed the federal Budget slipped furtherinto the red at the halfway mark of the financial year as revenues fell and expenses surged.
The most widely used indicator of the Budget position - the underlying cash balance- dropped to a deficit of $6.16 billion for the six months to December 31, 2001, $1.78billion worse than the previous month.
The sale of Sydney Airport was postponed on September 24 by then minister John Faheyafter it became clear the government would not achieve its sale objectives in the existingtimeframe.
Experts are uncertain whether the post-September 11 environment has improved to anextent to deliver the government the sale proceeds it hoped for last March when it originallyannounced the sale.
It is also believed that one of the three bid teams still has no airport manager afterits proposed operator quit the consortium last year, leaving just two credible biddersin the running.
AAP jph/daw/sjk/br
KEYWORD: AIRPORT
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