SEMO PORT AUTHORITY FOCUSES ON INFRASTRUCTURE

SCOTT CITY - Although always looking for new industrial prospects, the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority staff is focusing a lot of effort on infrastructure development -- an emphasis they believe will provide the port with the kind of intermodal transportation industries will need to compete in the 21st century.

Dan Overbey, executive director of the port authority since April, said that currently the port is primarily serving businesses in the region.

But if efforts next year to designate the port as an official port of entry and foreign trade zone are successful, and the railroad spur and extension of Nash Road are completed, the port authority should be in position to serve industry nationally and even internationally.

"Our focus has been a lot on the infrastructure and that is still our primary focus at this time," Overbey said. "We are talking to anybody that is interested in locating here, but right now we are trying to get all these things in place.

"When you are talking to a prospect, it is a lot easier if you have the big projects under way. By the time you tell people three or four things that you are going to do, they start to shuffle their feet and tend to walk away."

Overall, the port authority -- a joint venture of Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties -- owns about 500 acres of land, with between 75 and 80 acres ready for development now.

A dozen companies use the public dock at the port for shipping and receiving products. Tonnage at the port for 1993 will run about three times heavier than the total for 1992, which was double the previous year.

"We plan on a lot of continued tonnage growth in the future," said Overbey. The main products that pass through the port are liquid and dry fertilizer and petroleum coke, which is a powdery black substance used at the municipal power plant in Sikeston. Timber products and salt are also moved through the port.

Port tenants include Girardeau Stevedores and contractors, operated by Lanny Koch, who is the dock operator; First Missouri Terminals, which distributes liquid fertilizer, and Midwest Agri-Chemico, another fertilizer company, both owned by Russ Mothershead; and Cape Girardeau Fleeting, which has a contract for fleeting barges in the harbor.

Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. has signed a letter of intent to build at the port, but may not begin construction for two or three years.

Once Nash Road is extended eastward into the port, and the railroad spur is completed, the port will have the kind of road and rail access that is essential to having a strong port authority.

Construction of Nash Road will be under way by next summer and should be finished by the end of 1995.

The port is still negotiating with Union Pacific to purchase a branch line from the railroad, and will operate a short-line railroad that will provide access to three railroads: Burlington Northern, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific.

The rail spur for the port was started last year and the road bed has been graded. The track will be installed next summer.

Overbey explained: "The rail is moving along. It is one of the things we are doing for the future. Once we have it finished, it will give us a real advantage in the long term. The rail and road are the top priorities for the port right now."

The only road access to the port now is through Scott City on a road that also has heavy truck traffic from vehicles going to Tower Rock Stone and the Texas Eastern pipeline terminal.

One of the problems facing the port's board of commissioners right now is having enough money to pay for the infrastructure improvements. A $1.2 million Economic Development Administration grant has been secured; however, it must be matched with $800,000 in local funds.

The Cape Girardeau and Scott county commissions have provided the port with a letter of credit to help provide the local match.

Port commissioners saw the state's recently passed riverboat gaming law as an opportunity to generate both jobs to stimulate economic development and revenue to pay for infrastructure development.

Casino Magic has signed an option to lease approximately 25 acres at the port, and planned a first-year investment of $30 million to build a riverboat gaming complex. The development was projected to bring 800 jobs and a minimum of $250,000 a year income to the port, with a possibility of considerably more funds.

But on Nov. 2, voters in Scott County defeated the local option for riverboat gambling, leaving the development in doubt. Casino Magic has an option until April 30, and it is possible the company will seek a second vote on the issue.

Besides Casino Magic, Overbey said that he has been talking with other prospects, and is optimistic a major new tenant will be announced at the end of the year.