Ederle eyes $500M construction boom

[unhappycamper]

Ederle eyes $500M construction boom
By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, November 3, 2007

VICENZA, Italy — Caserma Ederle has seen a lot of change since Americans first took up residence in the 1950s — but nothing like the Army has planned over the next two decades.

A master plan — dubbed Vision 2020 — would largely transform the base, with multistory buildings and garages replacing single-story structures and most of the current road network.

“About 90 percent of the existing facilities will be demolished,” said Frank Powell, real property manager for the U.S. Army Garrison-Vicenza’s public works department.

Replacing so many buildings and so much infrastructure isn’t cheap. The plan itself took several years and about $500,000 (sic) to complete, he said.

For all the construction, “we’re looking probably at over 500 million (dollars) at this point,” Powell said.

With that level of money at play, congressional approval becomes a big factor. And though some of the current projects going up around base are seen as key parts of the plan, many other projects won’t even go into the funding request pipeline for years. And then there’s the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team’s relocation to the Dal Molin airfield. Though the local and federal governments have given their approval for the move — hoped to take place by 2012 — there are still very vocal opponents.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=49996