Port of Long Beach set to invest in infrastructure projects
With replacement of the Gerald Desmond Bridge scheduled to begin later this year, the Harbor Department has proposed a Fiscal Year 2012 budget topping $830 million, up 27 percent from the current fiscal year, Press-Telegram reports.
The $172-million increase is almost entirely tied to long-term infrastructure projects that include the bridge and modernization of aging piers, roadways, truck routes and railyards.
Port authorities, whose budget requires approval by a majority of the city council, plan to take out $300 million in new debt to help finance $630 million in capital projects for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
The capital projects represent 76-percent of total expenditures for the year, with internal salaries and benefits an estimated 5 percent, debt service 10 percent and roughly $5 million, or 1-percent, on the Clean Trucks Program.
Port officials anticipate operating revenue to increase by only 2.8 percent as total container cargo volumes slow from the 15 percent spike enjoyed in the first half of the current fiscal year.
Executives say growing competition from ports in the Gulf, along the East Coast and in British Columbia (Canada), along with ongoing construction of a larger, deeper Panama Canal require Long Beach invest, and soon.
Overall, the port plans to spend some $4.4-billion in modernization and upgrades within a decade.
The $172-million increase is almost entirely tied to long-term infrastructure projects that include the bridge and modernization of aging piers, roadways, truck routes and railyards.
Port authorities, whose budget requires approval by a majority of the city council, plan to take out $300 million in new debt to help finance $630 million in capital projects for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
The capital projects represent 76-percent of total expenditures for the year, with internal salaries and benefits an estimated 5 percent, debt service 10 percent and roughly $5 million, or 1-percent, on the Clean Trucks Program.
Port officials anticipate operating revenue to increase by only 2.8 percent as total container cargo volumes slow from the 15 percent spike enjoyed in the first half of the current fiscal year.
Executives say growing competition from ports in the Gulf, along the East Coast and in British Columbia (Canada), along with ongoing construction of a larger, deeper Panama Canal require Long Beach invest, and soon.
Overall, the port plans to spend some $4.4-billion in modernization and upgrades within a decade.
