Haley wants Savannah River terminal to be a priority

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.

She said she talks frequently with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and both states plan a similar approach in paying for the Jasper Terminal, for which federal money may also be available. The project would greatly expand capacity for the steel containers, which are lifted by cranes between container ships and trucks.

“We showed the Corps we had the resources, we had the plan and we had everything set up so the Corps saw we were ready,” for the Charleston deepening, she said.

“I want the Corps to have full confidence in the fact that this is not one state moving faster than the other but that this is two states moving in parallel,” on the terminal, she added.

Until additional studies are done, it’s not exactly clear exactly how much money the state will have to come up with.

Last November, Jeffrey Holt, a banker who specializes in financing for port and other infrastructure projects, told the board overseeing the terminal that for every $1 billion borrowed, the states should expect to pay $50 million to $130 million yearly for debt obligations.

South Carolina lawmakers have been wrangling for months over finding a way to fix the state’s deteriorating roads and Haley was asked later if it might be difficult to get money for another massive infrastructure project.

“Nothing’s difficult if you make it a priority,” she said. “We always in South Carolina have tried to be in front of things. That was our way of getting in front of Charleston. What I will say for Jasper is we need to get in front of Jasper.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Haley wants Savannah River terminal to be a priority."