|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. Mike McGeehan |
|
Phila. sewer customers to get a break on needed sewer line repairs
PHILADELPHIA, April 21 – State Rep. Mike McGeehan, D-Phila., today announced that the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority has approved a low-interest loan to the city for it to make nearly $85 million in badly needed improvements to the city's aging sanitary sewer system.
McGeehan said the project will result in the creation of an estimated 1,327 jobs over the course of the work, with nearly 1,200 of them going to Pennsylvania residents.
"This loan is going to help us correct the wide variety of problems that result from sewer lines that were installed more than 100 years ago," McGeehan said.
"We're talking about cracks that allow groundwater into the system and reduce its efficiency. Worse still are the complete line breaks and collapses that result in overflows and basements flooded with sewage. Those problems are outright threats to public health."
The Pennvest loan will be provided to the city at an interest rate of just under 1.2 percent for the first five years, and slightly more than 2.1 percent for the remaining 15 years, rates much better than those available through the commercial bond market.
###jp/2009/jma
l:'print'releases'sewerbreakbucks.173