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
31 comments:
I has always been the case that it would be a far better and enormously cheaper to simply buy all the properties that flooded in the Easter Flood, and turn the land into a park.
So the feds can just make up numbers and call them estimates. It’s this kind of dishonesty in government that is the reason there needs to be a purge.
I worked for the Corps years ago and I can tell you they are experts at pencil-whipping project numbers to match any outcome they desire.
“been waiting on for 45 years?” I remember well the flood of 79. It’s not if, but when, it will happen again. 45 of study?
Put up a net to catch meteorites too, cant cost that much more..
6:08- and bike lanes too!
Capitol or Capital. Capitol is a structure, a building.
"...has always been the case that it would be a far better and enormously cheaper to simply buy all the properties that flooded..."
Remember that the state bought up all the property surrounding what is now the Ross Barnett Reservoir and it's run/managed by a separate state agency. Are you sure you want to recommend that?
It’s clear the corps was told to kill the project.
A better project would be the Shoccoe Dry Dam upstream of Jackson. A much more elegant solution with lower cost, higher benefits, but no opportunity for lakeside development.
Gosh, I wish after graduating from college that I was given this project and managed to stretch it out for 45 years before presenting it to be read. Is there any doubt why Mississippi is ranked 50th out of 50! I think “gone with the wind” was written in less than a year, but of course that was in Georgia, not Mississippi.
How many times have we been through this? Obviously not enough. Plans plans plans. It’s all just blah blah blah at this point.
I don’t want to pay for this
A dirt contractor, the government and environmentalists. What could possibly go wrong? Can you say Change Order before we even get started?
The $22 per cubic yard is not far off it usually cost around $16 to $18 per cubic yard to haul and spread. About $10 to $12 per cubic yard to excavate. With a levee it’s a little different. I’m not trying to defend anyone. This is a massive project that require a lot of safety, signage, and equipment.
Is Sister R looking for her next big thing? THIS COULD BE IT!!!
No, because they created a lake. We don’t need a sewage filled lake on the Pearl.
I looks like there needs to be a study of the study, which could take 45-years, more or less. This is what careers are made of.
The $22 per cubic yard is not far off it usually cost around $16 to $18 per cubic yard to haul and spread. About $10 to $12 per cubic yard to excavate. With a levee it’s a little different. I’m not trying to defend anyone. This is a massive project that require a lot of safety, signage, and equipment.
The price tag looks high but compare it to the price tag of major infrastructure projects in the country. 800 million for a big ass lake and accompanying infrastructure doesn’t seem out of the ordinary.
Google all the claims associated with major public projects. Owners and contractors have started to realize the risk associated with major projects and adjusting the cost accordingly.
MS doesn’t have experience with major public projects so it’s hard to comprehend the risk.
If Chowke and Rukia are involved that would be a "kushy" gig. Right?
In another 45-years this will all be water under the bridge.
45 years! Where's DOGE when you need them?
Buying up all the properties? Some of you have forgotten the areas that flooded and how long it took to recover. I haven't.
The properties that flooded are rebuilt. But there are new houses that weren't there as well as commercial properties, office buildings, homes, churches, parking lots and new streets in areas that flooded. More ground was paved. More trash has been thrown into the reservoir and creeks and more vegetation has grown.
Here's your hint: Find the creeks. They became rivers. Notice the bridges.
I cannot imagine that dredging that river is a good idea with all the toxic former industries that were in Flowood. I wonder if any samples have been taken from the river bottom.
"The Corps now estimates that the Alternative D1 plan will cost between $873 million and $917 million in uncertified costs"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oI6yClWr-E
It's an estimate not an exactimate.
One lake/two lake is another developer pie in the sky boondoggle. A few will get rich and then leave the area when the flooding begins. Who wants to be lakeside on the Pearl River? Just dig an extra large open septic tank and call it lake front property.
Instead of continuing to plan and redraw and plan some more, pass any local / state legislation needed and solicit bids (which you never have to accept) for a cost/plus, guaranteed maximum price proposal. Let the free market tell you with open numbers what the market will provide. Screw what the corp says. If it’s in the tolerable range, permit, bond and crack on with the project. Let the market SHOW you the cost. Don’t trust the feds.
I remember as a child walking through houses with my father on the Westbrook road side of old canton road. the water mark was waist deep behind the old colonial heights baptist church. It has flooded there since then. I do no live in Jackson ms anymore, but still read this blog and have a lot of friends there. I am hopeful the idea of a One Lake project is committed to by the leadership. I am not an engineer and have no skin in the game other than having grown up playing at the JCC and Colonial CC. I truly hope Jackson will get out of its own way to create something that might actually save the city. Owned a few businesses in the city limits before I left. I have lived other places in the world and have seen what positive change can happen when infrastructure projects are implemented.
That has never been the case and was recently confirmed to be one of the most expensive options.
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