RIDGELAND, S.C. (AP) – Gov. Nikki Haley said Monday she expects lawmakers in both South Carolina and Georgia will have to start banking money to help pay for a joint port terminal on the Savannah River, a terminal consultants expect will be needed by 2025 and which Haley said she would’ve liked to have had yesterday.
Haley met with local officials and representatives from both states Monday to get an update on the Jasper Ocean Terminal, a 1,500-acre terminal planned for a site in Jasper County on the South Carolina river, downstream from Savannah.
The first phase, expected to cost about $2 billion, is now expected to be needed by 2025 when container capacity – space to stack containers – at terminals in South Carolina and Georgia begins to run out. Haley said with the growing economies of both states, capacity could begin running out before then.
Monday’s briefing was to have been held last fall to mark a milestone in the decade-long Jasper project, when planners applied for an Army Corps of Engineers permit. Haley said there was no time for an observance then because the state was recovering from historic rains and flooding.
Several years ago, South Carolina lawmakers set aside $300 million to pay the state’s share of the $510 million deepening of the Charleston Harbor shipping channel and Haley said assurances the money was in place helped speed the project.