Scott’s new budget has $176 million for ports, including $31M for the long-delayed dredging of the river to deepen the channel for bigger PANAMAX ships.
Visiting Jacksonville on March 20, Scott addressed the near-term future of the port and when money might be dispersed for the project.
“When I came into this job, we’d hardly invested anything into our ports. We’ve invested $1.2 billion into ports, and JAXPORT has gotten some of that. We had to fix Mile Point first,” Scott said.
“I’m committed to make sure we get the dredge done. Here’s the difference,” Scott said, “we have the money to do it.”
The JAXPORT board approved the purchase of 53 acres of land needed for that project in March 2017.