Expected approval of the Port of Miami dredging project is being hailed as a win for the state of Florida, particularly the areas in and around Miami.
It will allow the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the port to a depth of 50 feet, making it a viable option to handle the new Post-Panamax ships that will come through the Panama Canal when the expansion project is completed in 2014.
But one month ago, nobody could say where the additional $77 million to make it happen would come from.
Federal earmarks were out of the question, according to Sen. Marco Rubio, and with a looming budget deficit and Gov. Rick Scott vowing to cut taxes further, port officials were facing the prospect of watchingtons of new business float on past them to ports deep enough to handle the new ships.
But immediately after his November win, Scott --whom lawmakers like Senate President Mike Haridopolos have praised for actually governing as he promised in the campaign --had set into motion a plan that would pay for the project.
Scott had his transition team look at the various state departments and find ways to cut waste and improve efficiencies. Scott spokesman Brian Hughes claims the Florida Department of Transportation was able to scrape together enough money through contract renegotiations to fund the the rest of the port dredging project. Once totaled, Scott directed the DOT to commit the funds to the Port of Miami.
"Gov. Scott believes that Floridas ports are an important part of the states economic future," said Hughes. "The expansion of the Panama Canal and emerging markets in Central and South America mean that Florida is uniquely positioned to take advantage of these opportunities if we invest in the right types of infrastructure."
Dick Kane, communications director for DOT, says the department looked at future contracts on the state's most traveled roads, railways and ports (formally known as the Strategic Intermodal System, or SIS) and began renegotiating bids.
"There's a lot of competition for work now," Kane said. "With the housing market and other industries down, contractors are looking for work. In the past we weren't getting that many bids. Now we're getting lots of competition on each job, and the competition drives the prices down."
A contract that would have cost the state $10 million, for example, is now coming in at $8 million. With enough contracts renegotiated (some bigger, some smaller), those savings added up -- to $76.9 million.
"Under the law, we're required to maximize the work-program projects as funds become available. We have to plow these savings back into the work-program projects, and we determined the Miami dredge project was the most strategic in the state."
The total cost of dredging the port to the new depth of 50 feet is $150 million. Under SIS guidelines, DOT is allowed to pay up to 75 percent of that cost, which is exactly what the port needed after putting up the first 25 percent.
Before the $76.9 million was found through renegotiating bidding contracts, Kane says they were nowhere near that.
"We already had $35.6 million in the work program for the dredging project. With the additional $76.9 million, that brought us right up to the $112.5 million needed to have the full 75 percent match," said Kane.
Last week, Bill Johnson, director of the Port of Miami, traveled to Washington to meet with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others on the Hill, to work on the next key step: getting the Corps of Engineers to accept the money. Johnson says the Corps can't just accept it; there are certain actions that have to take place first.
"Basically, the bank account is full," said Johnson. "We have the $150 million, now we just need the mechanisms in place so that they can accept it and begin bids on the project. That's what I'm working on now."
Johnson says having the funding in place gives the Corps the confidence to move forward, knowing they won't have to break the project into pieces because of delays in funding.
"The key now is to make sure the project stays on schedule so that we'll be ready when the Panama Canal expansion is completed," said Johnson.
While Scott has directed the money be spent on the port, that decision still must be approved by the Legislature. House Speaker Dean Cannon and Senate President Mike Haridopolos both have shown support for Scott's decision.
Johnson says he expects the Corps to complete the preliminary engineering design phase by the end of this summer. That would put them on track to begin the dredging project by the summer of 2012.
Lane Wright may be reached at lane@sunshinestatenews.com or (561) 247-1063.
