HARRISBURG -- A political dogfight over leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator will commence in about two weeks.

Gov. Ed Rendell had planned to release the name of the highest bidder by the end of April, but an aide, Chuck Ardo, said there will be "a short extension" -- from several days to two weeks -- before the name of the winning private consortium is made public.

Mr. Ardo said the administration's adviser on the turnpike deal, Morgan Stanley, thinks the state could get a higher price for a 75-year lease if it waits a little longer.

"And the purpose of this exercise is to get the highest bid possible," he added.

Mr. Ardo wouldn't say how much the governor wants for the long-term lease. But Morgan Stanley had estimated it could be worth $12 billion to $16 billion.

That money would be invested, with the goal of receiving at least $1 billion a year for 75 years to be used to fix hundreds of miles of ailing roads and more than 5,000 deficient bridges and to help several dozen financially strapped mass transit systems in the state.

But no matter when the name of the highest bidder is released, a long and probably heated public debate with the state Legislature is likely to follow.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester, said it's hard to comment on what he called "the sale of the turnpike" because Mr. Rendell hasn't made any details public yet.

"We have been continually disappointed by the lack of information shared by the administration on their various plans to sell the turnpike," he told reporters yesterday. "But in general I think it's bad public policy to sell critical state infrastructure to private companies."

Mr. Rendell said his proposal will be to lease the turnpike for 75 years to a private operator, who would maintain the roadway, pay the turnpike work force and collect the tolls.

But Mr. Pileggi said that with a lease that's 75 years long, "I consider it a sale of the turnpike."

Mr. Ardo said the governor is still hoping the Legislature will act on the lease proposal by June 10, but legislators of both parties said that is totally unrealistic, given the time they'll need to scrutinize such an important and detailed proposal.

Mr. Ardo said that it probably would be OK if the House and Senate acted by the time they recess for the summer, which will either be June 30, or early July, if state budget negotiations take longer than expected.

The turnpike lease proposal isn't a partisan issue, and a lot of Democrats, especially those with strong ties to labor unions, will likely vote against it. The Teamsters union, which represents many of the current turnpike commission employees, is opposed to a private lease.

So is Rep. Joseph Markosek, D-Monroeville, chairman of the House Transportation Committee. He wants to stick with Act 44 of 2007, which was enacted last July as a way to generate about $1 billion a year for 30 years for fixing ailing roads and bridges and helping out fiscally-strained mass transit agencies.

Act 44 calls for putting first-time tolls on Interstate 80, which is opposed by many residents and legislators in the corridor. Mr. Rendell said the plans to toll I-80 can be dropped if a turnpike lease is approved.

But Mr. Markosek, who sponsored Act 44, said, "I am very much opposed to the fact he [Mr. Rendell] wants to go down this road," meaning to lease the turnpike.

Everyone agrees that some serious money -- about $1 billion a year -- must be generated to fix roads, bridges and mass transit, but there are pitfalls to each of the three principal methods proposed.

A third proposal calls for increasing the state's 31-cent gasoline tax, but doing that when gas is approaching $4 a gallon is politically impossible.

State Rep. Rick Geist, R-Blair, generally supports "public-private partnerships" for improving transportation. A turnpike lease would fall into that category.

But Mr. Geist, along with many other legislators, insists on seeing the lease proposals made by all 14 private consortiums that have expressed interest in the deal, not just the highest bid. Legislators want to compare the details of the bids and the experience of the bidders, rather than just looking at the highest number.

So far, however, the administration just plans to release the highest bid, Mr. Ardo said.

"We will decide on [releasing] the others," he said, "when the time comes," meaning sometime after the highest bid is made public.