Jackson Jambalaya

The Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood & Drainage Control District  issued the following statement. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released its updated final draft Environmental Impact Statement on the flood control solution that the Capitol region has been waiting on for 45 years. The Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District, the local body responsible for maintaining the levee system and the local sponsor of this project, calls into question the cost estimates developed by the Corps in the most recent report.

The Corps now estimates that the Alternative D1 plan will cost between $873 million and $917 million in uncertified costs. That is despite the fact that the Corps’ official cost estimating office certified a cost estimate of $325.2 million in 2022. The Corps must justify how their new, uncertified costs can be $548 million more expensive (a 168% increase) than the previous cost estimates certified by the Corps just 3 years ago.

“Only the federal government could think that digging up dirt between two levees would cost $800 million,” said Mayor Jake Windham, President of the Board of the Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District. “The same bureaucracy, acting on influence from environmental activists, that has kept the metro region from flood protection for decades seems to be at it again with inflated costs designed to undermine the project.”

Other aspects of the Corps’ cost estimate that the Flood Control District disputes include:  The Corps is using a 47% contingency. Industry standards are to add a 10% to 15% contingency. The Corps must justify why a contingency 4-5 times the industry standard is necessary on a project of this kind.

 The Corps is estimating that the costs to excavate dirt along the Pearl River (the bulk of the construction activity of the project) will cost $22 per cubic yard. Local contractors have quoted a price that is about half that amount.

Outrageously inflated costs hurt the project by driving down the Benefit-Cost Ratio and making the financing of the project appear to be impossible. The Corps must explain to the taxpayers who will one day pay for a large portion of this project how it came up with these costs. They must address how the project cost increased 168% over a Corps-certified cost estimate three years ago, why its cost estimates are twice as much as local contractors are quoting, and why they believe a 47% contingency on a dirt moving project is justified.

“As President Trump and the work of his Administration have shown, there is rampant waste of taxpayers’ money throughout the federal government. We don’t want to see that same type of wasteful budgeting infect this locally driven project too,” said Mayor Windham.

About the Flood Control District

The Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District is a public agency made up of the mayors of Jackson, Flowood, Pearl, and Richland as well as representatives from Hinds County, Rankin County, and the State of Mississippi. The District Board administers and oversees the maintenance of the existing levee system that has been in place since 1967. It is organized under the Urban Flood and Drainage Control Law for the purpose of aiding in achieving the goals of flood control, conservation, and development of lands and property for the general health and welfare of the residents within the District. For more information, visit http://rankinhindsflooddistrict.ms.gov