The State of Utah’s Authority Infrastructure Bank (AIB) is administered by the Utah Inland Port Authority as a short-term, low-rate tool to jump-start public-benefit infrastructure—especially when permanent financing (bonds or private loans) isn’t ready yet. Eligible projects are located in a UIPA project area; loans are approved publicly by the AIB Loan Approval Committee, the UIPA Board, and the Legislature’s Executive Appropriations Committee, and are lent and serviced by the State’s Division of Finance.
Who meets the criteria
- Project location/benefit. The project must be in a UIPA project area. When an AIB loan is secured by property-tax differential, spend must occur inside the generating project area.
- Eligible uses. AIB funds public-benefit infrastructure: acquisition tied to infrastructure, construction/development (roads, utilities, rail, sewer, site work), reconstruction/improvements, and rehabilitation/remediation (including environmental cleanup).
- Pricing & term. By statute, rates are ≤ 0.5% above Utah’s bond-market rate; terms and collateral are set deal-by-deal, with the program emphasizing rail and logistics infrastructure.
Primary uses so far: a practical “stop-gap”
Past AIB actions show how the tool bridges timing gaps so core infrastructure can start now and be taken out later with permanent capital.
Each of the following AIB loans has since been paid off:
- Savage Transload Network — $7.4M, 10 years, 3.04%; Iron Springs transload facility consisting of rail-to-truck transload track (doubling capacity to expand the Tooele Railport transloading facility; repayment: company funds.
- Zenith Bolinder — project-area infrastructure. $4.875M, 1 year, 3.47%; water system, tank, pump station, wastewater system, roads, power plant; repayment.
- Savage Tooele Railroad — Tooele County rail expansion. $10M, 10 years, 3.45%; rehabilitation of 6 miles of existing rail and construction of 5 miles of new track connecting Lakeview Business Park to the intermodal rail network; repayment: company funds.
Why it matters
By pairing public approvals with state-rate lending, AIB reduces timing risk and lets communities build shared infrastructure—the pipes, rails, roads, and power that lift entire project areas rather than just single sites—while the long-term capital stack comes together.
Bottom line: If your project builds public-benefit infrastructure in or directly serving a UIPA project area—and you can show public value, collateral, and a credible take-out—you’re squarely in AIB territory.