INVESTMENT PAYS OFF AT REGIONAL PORT

SCOTT CITY -- Years of public funding for the Southeast Missouri Regional Port has paid dividends in economic development for the area, port officials said Monday.

Private investment finally has exceeded public funding for the developing port, said Dan Overbey, executive director of the port authority.

Overbey, port commissioners and state Sen. Peter Kinder touted the port's success during a visit by U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and a group of area civic leaders and elected officials.

Kinder, who once served on the port authority board, said the port took years to develop. Along the way, there were construction setbacks. The harbor wasn't completed until 14 years after the port authority was created.

"The public dollars came first," he said.

Kinder said the port commissioners used to take a lot of ribbing over the slow progress in developing the port.

At one point during Monday's hourlong event, port officials and others boarded the port's locomotive for a brief ride on the rails with Emerson at the controls.

"This is kind of fun," she said, sounding the horn as the 45-year-old locomotive inched along the track bordering the Mississippi River harbor.

Since the port authority was established by Cape Girardeau and Scott counties in 1975, public funding has totaled $16 million.

The total includes $7.3 million from a sales tax that was levied in Cape Girardeau and Scott counties from 1986 to 1990. Other funding came from the federal and state governments.

The $16 million figure doesn't include over $900,000 in Missouri Department of Transportation grants that were used to subsidize operating expenses at the port.

The port's slackwater harbor wasn't completed until 1989. Since then six businesses have set up operations at the port.

This year, the cumulative total of private investment at the port has reached $21 million.

W.K. Dillon, port authority board chairman, said private investment includes a $13 million investment by Missouri Fibre Corp. for development of its wood chip mill.

Overbey said the port authority's revenue from leases, rents and its railroad is expected to cover its annual operating expenses of around $250,000 in the 1999 fiscal year.

The port has led to the direct creation of 70 jobs and another 150 jobs for truck drivers, as well as sales and office personnel away from the port.

Emerson and her late husband, former congressman Bill Emerson, both have championed the port. She said the port is important for the region's economic growth.

Further improvements are in the works. The state is providing $200,000 for fill work for about 12 acres along the north side of the harbor for future industrial sites.

That amount will be matched by Lone Star Industries. The company plans to provide the fill material as part of its efforts to develop a quarry on land it owns bordering the port. The fill work should begin later this year. The quarry could be in operation within the next 10 years. It could provide sufficient material for its Cape Girardeau cement plant for 100 to 150 years, Overbey said.

Ultimately, the port authority wants to build up about 40 acres of land as industrial sites.

The entire project would cost about $1.8 million. Half the cost would be borne by Lone Star, Overbey said. The remainder could come from state grants.