For Immediate Release, Thursday, December 7, 2006

 

Recovery Project Update

River Oaks, West Pearl River, Coin du Lestin 

            The cleaning of the canals lacing the River Oaks area, east of Slidell, is about 90% complete according to the St. Tammany Parish Department of Engineering.  Completion is expected in the next two weeks. 

            “Over 25,000 cubic yards of debris have been removed from these canals,” said Parish Project Engineer Joe Shoemaker.  “With funding assistance from FEMA, the parish was able to contract with Omni Pinnacle to clear these clogged canals.”  The project is estimated to cap out at over $500,000.00. 

            St. Tammany Parish issued a contract today with Great Southern Dredging, Mandeville, to clean the clogged West Pearl River.  At $4.863 million, Great Southern Dredging was the lowest bidder for the project.  Work is expected to begin within the week and be completed before December 31^st. 

            Great Southern Dredging is chipping the West Pearl debris on-site which will reduce the number of loads of debris that have to be transported to a dump site.  “This is an innovative method that will save taxpayers dollars,” said Parish President Kevin Davis. 

            “President Bush announced this week that the Federal Government will end 100% funding of Katrina related debris projects on December 31^st,” continued Davis.  “We are pushing to complete these, and other related projects, by that deadline.  We need to conserve parish funding for infrastructure improvements, such as roads, and for projects not covered by FEMA, such as clearing trees killed by pine-beetles from public rights of way.” 

            The Parish Finance Department also released the bid packages today to clean the waterways in the Coin du Lestin area.  An estimated 500,000 cubic yards of hurricane related debris and marsh vegetation need to be clean from this area.  Bids will be opened Monday, December 11 at 10:00 AM.  Work will begin as soon as contracts can be issued. 

-end-