NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana’s capital outlay budget is designed to fund large projects such as buildings, roads, water and sewer systems through a combination of cash and borrowing.
Friday, New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board Officials appeared before a legislative committee vetting requests for this year’s spending.
They asked for an additional $29 million to go toward the new modern electrical substation now being built on the grounds of the board’s Carrollton water plant.
“So, the Sewerage and Water Board no longer generates its own power, a business we should have gotten out of maybe 50 years ago,” SWBNO Chief of Staff Rene Lapeyrolerie said. “It has, I think, near unanimous support, our mayor, our city council.”
To date, the project has received about $55 million in capital outlay funds.
“I will also add almost your entire legislative delegation has come and told me how important it is as well,” Committee Chair Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, said.
The new substation would replace the utility’s aging and unreliable power system consisting of steam and combustion turbines and emergency backup generators.
Failures in the system have led to widespread street flooding in the city.
“This is really a transformation investment in our utility, SWBNO Deputy General Superintendent Kaitlin Tymrak said. “The equipment we’ve been using for over 100 years to self-generate our own power has simply reached its end of life.”
The cost of the project has ballooned from about $300 million to about $350 million since its groundbreaking in December 2022.
The committee did not take any action on the Sewerage and Water Board request.
The power substation is now expected to be online by the peak of next year’s hurricane season.
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