MikeyF
VIP Contributor
Offline
Far more needed, LaGrange says
Friday, March 07, 2008By Jen DeGregorio
Officials at the Port of New Orleans called on the state Thursday to help pay for the
port's $1 billion master plan, which outlines a slate of ambitious development projects
to be completed by 2020.
Port CEO and President Gary P. LaGrange said his agency needs far more than the
$25 million Gov. Bobby Jindal promised to dedicate to the expansion of the Napoleon
Avenue Container Terminal, the centerpiece of the port's master plan.
"We need to keep up with our competition," LaGrange said at a riverfront news
conference, as huge blue cranes lifted containers on and off of a Panamanian ship piled
sky high with cargo behind him.
Jindal asked the Legislature this week to dedicate about $28 million of the state's $1
billion budget surplus to the port. The bulk of that, about $25 million, would go to
building the second phase of the port's Napoleon Avenue terminal.
But LaGrange said the port needs at least $125 million during the next three years to
jump-start the $237.5 million terminal expansion, which would boost the port's ability to
process the massive metal boxes that carry consumer products around the country.
Rep. Austin Badon Jr., D-New Orleans, called Jindal's $25 million pledge for the
terminal "a drop in the bucket" and said he would press the Legislature to dedicate
more to the port.
"We have a unique opportunity," he said at the news conference.
http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-1/1204870864264790.xml&coll=1
Friday, March 07, 2008By Jen DeGregorio
Officials at the Port of New Orleans called on the state Thursday to help pay for the
port's $1 billion master plan, which outlines a slate of ambitious development projects
to be completed by 2020.
Port CEO and President Gary P. LaGrange said his agency needs far more than the
$25 million Gov. Bobby Jindal promised to dedicate to the expansion of the Napoleon
Avenue Container Terminal, the centerpiece of the port's master plan.
"We need to keep up with our competition," LaGrange said at a riverfront news
conference, as huge blue cranes lifted containers on and off of a Panamanian ship piled
sky high with cargo behind him.
Jindal asked the Legislature this week to dedicate about $28 million of the state's $1
billion budget surplus to the port. The bulk of that, about $25 million, would go to
building the second phase of the port's Napoleon Avenue terminal.
But LaGrange said the port needs at least $125 million during the next three years to
jump-start the $237.5 million terminal expansion, which would boost the port's ability to
process the massive metal boxes that carry consumer products around the country.
Rep. Austin Badon Jr., D-New Orleans, called Jindal's $25 million pledge for the
terminal "a drop in the bucket" and said he would press the Legislature to dedicate
more to the port.
"We have a unique opportunity," he said at the news conference.
http://www.nola.com/business/t-p/index.ssf?/base/money-1/1204870864264790.xml&coll=1