Premier Campbell Newman said he believed any discussion of who would operate the port and power assets if the LNP wins the election was ‘‘premature’’.

Singaporean and Chinese companies have expressed interest in other states’ power networks and are expected to be among the bidders in the Queensland tender process, if it goes ahead.

Mr Newman said the government would set out ‘‘to get the best amount of money for Queenslanders’’ and that didn’t necessarily mean a local investor.

‘‘When you run a tender you can’t pre-judge the outcome,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s really about getting the best value for money.

‘‘The assets are always owned by the people of Queensland.

‘‘We cannot dig them up and take them away. I would like to see and I hope that we would see strong interest from our own superannuation funds.

‘‘I would encourage that.

‘‘It would be great to see  if there was indeed an opportunity for super funds in Australia to invest and give returns back to hardworking Queenslanders.

‘‘That would be my preferred option but we need to get the best amount of money so we can pay down Labor’s debt and create the most jobs.’’

Labor has campaigned on not privatising or leasing assets.

The LNP has based its entire re-election campaign on the $8.6billion in proceeds it plans to spend on infrastructure if its Strong Choices program is given the-go ahead by the public through an election win, of any margin.

It has not released the scoping studies for the assets it plans to off-load, nor definitively answered what would happen to infrastructure that the lessor maintains or adds  to the asset at the end of the agreed term, and whether the state would have to buy it back.