$650M Separates Anchorage Mayor, Director’s Port Expansion Price Tag

Mayor Dan Sullivan is requesting $350 million from the Alaska State Legislature to guarantee completion of the Port of Anchorage expansion project. Port director Bill Sheffield’s vision would cost $1 billion.

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By KTVA CBS 11

Story Created: Nov 2, 2011 at 2:56 PM AKDT

Story Updated: Nov 2, 2011 at 2:56 PM AKDT

The mayor of Anchorage and the director of the Port of Anchorage are at odds on the price tag of a multimillion-dollar expansion project of the port.

As reported on KTVA CBS 11 last week, Mayor Dan Sullivan is requesting $350 million from the Alaska State Legislature to guarantee completion of the expansion project.

Sullivan says the requested amount will serve the state for the next 40 to 50 years, however, port director Bill Sheffield says his vision for the project has a much higher price tag: $1 billion.

And, in the middle of it all, is Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage.

"I'm just concerned that two different stories came out. Thursday, the story was, ‘Hey, legislature—We've scaled this back. It's only a $350 million project now. I was happy about that. Turns out that's not accurate, so I don't know what the city is working on now,” said Gara.

The project will include a new 1.5-mile steel dock, new berths for cargo ships and the refurbishment of a petroleum dock.

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Robert Lee said on Saturday, Nov 5 at 7:28 AM

The price tag for the Port is closer to Sheffield's figure than that of Sullivan. The amount of the project should be public, since this is public money. There should be no surprises, since you and I are paying for it. No, the mayor does not have a right to keep those figures secret.

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hanner said on Wednesday, Nov 2 at 4:55 PM

Sheffield has been around for a long while guys. He is getting older but still has some smarts. Can you figure out the plan boys and girls????

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