Seaport Council awards $8.2M for port projects

NEW BEDFORD will get $75,000 for fire-boat restoration plus a share of a $5.50M dredging grant it will divide with Fairhaven, the Seaport Council said. It also will receive a portion of two statewide grants. /
NEW BEDFORD will get $75,000 for fire-boat restoration plus a share of a $5.50M dredging grant it will divide with Fairhaven, the Seaport Council said. It also will receive a portion of two statewide grants. /

BOSTON – The Mass. Seaport Advisory Council this week awarded $8.2 million for improvements to ports from Fall River to Salem. The greater part of the money – about $7 million – is allocated to projects in Fall River, New Bedford and Fairhaven.
Fall River will receive $1.10 million for floats and docks at the Fall River State Pier. Fairhaven and New Bedford will get $5.50 million for Phase III of a local dredging project. Fairhaven will get another $100,000 for the Union Wharf rehabilitation, engineering and design, and New Bedford will get $75,000 for fire-boat restoration.
New Bedford also will receive a portion of a $110,000 statewide grant to resolve sunken-vessel problems, which the Whaling City will divide with the Cape Cod ports of Woods Hole and Provincetown.
Another seven grants were approved by the 15-member panel yesterday, in a unanimous vote: $100,000 statewide for Phase I of a commercial boat sewage-pumpout project; $420,000 to Salem for construction of its South River Harborwalk; two grants to Newburyport, $100,000 for a Plum Island restroom facility and $36,000 for commercial fish pier dredging design; and three grants to Gloucester, $400,000 toward an economic development business plan, $250,000 for a city floating-dock project and $22,000 for the Blynman Canal seawall reconstruction.
“Our coastal cities and towns are important economic development drivers for the commonwealth,” Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, the council’s chairman, said in a statement. “Making smart, targeted investments in our harbors and ports – to ensure they can accommodate growth in tourism, trade and fishing – strengthens not only our coastal communities but also enables them to serve as a resource for residents and businesses across the commonwealth.”
The Mass. Seaport Advisory Council – the governor’s administrative panel coordinating policy for and development of Bay State ports – meets quarterly, in various port communities, to vote on maritime policy and the allocation of Seaport Bond Bill funds. Its members include four Cabinet secretaries, the director of MassPort, mayors or delegates from five port cities and other regional and stakeholder representatives. To learn more, visit www.mass.gov/seaports.

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