Competition builds for Hawaii public works projects - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

bengeyqafiba1640.blogspot.com
Last month, a job to replace the passenge r loading bridges at the airport drew six times theinterest — 12 contractors bidding betweejn $10.2 million and $12.9 million. It’s a sign that Hawaii’as public infrastructure projects are taking on a new glamour durinfg theeconomic downturn. Froze n credit markets have all but dried up manyprivate projects, spurring contractors to seek work building bridges, sewers and schools, and fixing and upgrading the islans state’s airports and harbors. Hawaiii Director Brennon Morioka said that not only is it common to get six or more bids for the bids that are coming in are for lowerdollard amounts.
“They’re sharpening their pencils and we are gettint muchbetter bids,” he said. Morioka’s department has the largest portionn ofthe state’s $1.8 billion capital improvement plan for projectas that are funded and ready to go — $790.7 millionm for roads, harbors and airportes — and also some of the larges t projects on the list including the $77 million second phase of the Queen Kaahumanu Highway widening, due to start this and the $48 million firstt phase of the Lahaina Bypass, whichb Maui-based started recently. The departmenty is spending $2.
3 billion over 15 yearse to modernizethe state’w airports and is working on the start of a six-year, $618 millionn modernization program for its commercia l harbors. Proposals to increase fuel taxe s and registration and vehicle weight fees to fundthe department’es six-year, $4 billion plan to modernize the state’ss highways are being considered by the Legislatur this session. And the City and County of Honolulu’s rail transirt project could generate millions of dollars in spendinhg when itbreaks ground, possibly this year.
Hawaii also is in line to receivee morethan $220 million for roads, mass transit and cleann water infrastructure projects from the federal government as part of Presideng Barack Obama’s stimulus package, according to the officed of Rep. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii. The package includew $125.7 million in highway infrastructurd funds that also could be used for rail andport $43.8 million for mass transitf projects, including the purchasde of buses; and $30.
8 million for constructing municipap wastewater plants and developing clean water The counties also are at work fixing roadways, bridges and sewee systems, and have long lists of other projects they would like to ’s trucks were a familiar sight along Kapiolanik Boulevard as the company upgraded the city’s water and seweer system, a $30 million project. Engineer Tim Pearia said the city has plentu of workfor 2009, including a $40 milliomn sewer project in Waimalu. The company, which does a lot of public sewer projects, has seen more competition for jobs that othet contractors would not have touched during the boom Pearia said.
Other contractors “There’s no choice other than military andinfrastructurse work,” said Roger Peters, executive vice president and general manager of dck Pacific, which recentlt completed Honolulu International Airport’ s new $40 million interisland parking garage. “The privates sector is not totally dead, but it’ s been significantly reduced in terms ofthe opportunities.
” Whiles it may appear that there is a lot of work from the statee and counties, there actually is more competition for fewer overalol jobs, which means thousands of trade workerx still are on the bench, said Bill Wilson, president of “Iy sure seems on an overall basi s that there’s less available he said. “While we’ve been fortunate to have as much as wedo it’s not as much as we did Hawaiian Dredging, which recently broke ground on Disney’s new resorgt at Ko Olina, routinely works on infrastructure projectsx — it recently completesd the first phase of the Queen Kaahumanuj Highway widening in Kailua-Kona on the Big Islandx and is working on the City and County of Honolulu’es $80 million upgrade to the Sand Island Wastewated Treatment Plant.
Parsons, which does mostly infrastructure projects, also has seen more competition for public work projects in the past couple of When it wonthe $50 million contract in 2007 to do upgrade at the city’s Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment there were two other said Senior Vice President Tom McCabe. “Ands then last month, there was a bid for the Wahiawa Wastewated Treatment Plant and there were 11 said McCabe, noting that Parsons came in fourtb for that job. “Basically one year later, the number of bidderxs almost quadrupled.” Dozens of large projects will be put out to bid over the next couplwof months.
One of the state’s harbof modernization program’s first projects, a $20 million interislans cargo facility for at Hilo is getting ready to go outto bid, Moriokwa said. Expanding cargo facilities for both and Young Brotherw atKawaihae Harbor, acquiring more land at Maui’ds Kahului Harbor and redeveloping Honoluly Harbor’s Kapalama Military Reservatiomn into an area for cargo operations also are part of the “We still anticipate futur growth of cargo capacit y needs — that’s on every island,” Morioka “We’re trying to expand capacity at each of our Over the next six to nine months, the departmeny also will put two highwat widening projects on Kauai out to bid that will total about $95 he said.