Projects to top $20 billion in next two years.
By: George Frey
New Jersey’s economy will feel the positive influence of a building industries boom, according to New Jersey Alliance officials.
State and private agencies announced plans for building projects and budgets totaling $20.1 billion over the next two years, down only slightly from last year’s record projection of $20.4 billion, at the alliance’s 17th annual construction forecast seminar Nov. 20 at the Trenton War Memorial. The alliance is a non-profit group of businesses, labor, professional academic and government organizations which promote investment in infrastructure as a key to the state’s economic future. The seminar helps business and labor groups prepare for upcoming projects.
"I like to attend these things to see what sort of jobs come to the state of New Jersey," said Carl Styles, a field representative of Laborer’s Union 222 of Camden. "I’m especially interested in electrical work and any co-gen (co-generation electrical) plant work." He said he is expecting to see a lot of school construction work in the coming years, too.
Mr. Styles said the union has about 500 members in Burlington, Gloucester and Salem counties, and that in the state there are probably 20,000 in different unions which are dependent on the types of building discussed at the meeting. Mr. Styles suspected those union members were represented by someone like himself at the seminar, which was attended by more than 100.
"We have to see that the manpower is in position and that we can recruit new members and train people. Knowing the scope of the manpower that we need is important. We need to get the big picture at meetings like this," Mr. Styles said.
Projects at the meeting which were outlined by more than 20 different agencies included:
The New Jersey Department of Transportation’s announcement that it would spend $404 million on about 30 road and bridge projects in the 2002 calendar year.
The New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority said it expects to finance about $720 million in projects, including $15 million on a parking garage at Princeton Theological Seminary and $50 million on various renovations at Princeton University in 2002. The NJEFA also said it has plans to finance projects worth another $281 million in 2003 including $50 million at Princeton University.
The Delaware River Port Authority said it would spend about $175 million on the maintenance of four Philadelphia area bridges and PATCO train lines over the next two years.
"We do all sorts of transit work from roads and bridges to aviation projects," said Richard Maitino, vice president of Parsons Transportation Group, an engineering firm with offices in Newark and New York. "This is a great opportunity to get information from individual people. A chance for people from the industry to talk with leaders from all these agencies and also legislative leaders at the same time."
Alliance President Philip Beachem said that he was "thrilled at the numbers," but said the funding for private projects was not as good as the funding being spent by state agencies, and that there needed to be ways to find funding for more projects to keep New Jersey’s infrastructure modern. Mr. Beachem said there might be significant additions to the numbers should the federal government pass a public stimulus package currently being discussed by Congress.
For more information on the projects announced at the meeting call the Alliance at (732) 225-1180.