Critical NO S&WB power plant project will have 'missing components' if funding is not found

NEW ORLEANS — The crucial project to modernize and stabilize the energy sources of the City of New Orleans' drainage and pumping infrastructure will have to be completed without some key components if $29 million in funding planned during this year's legislative session will not materialize, the executive said. » said director Ghassan Korban Friday morning on WWL Louisiana.

The city was counting on that money to complete an upgrade of its energy sources, which would include an Entergy substation, new turbines and other equipment that Korban said would make the system “reliable, efficient and redundant.”

Even though the city hasn't received any money from the Legislature, Korban remains optimistic and says he's “hearing positive things” about the funding.

NOLA.com said Gov. Jeff Landry called a news conference to announce “improvements to project funding,” but that briefing was canceled. A spokesperson for the governor told NOLA.com that this was simply due to scheduling reasons and would take place “in the coming weeks.”

Korban said the critical project, which will not be ready for what is expected to be a busy hurricane in 2024, would still be ready by mid-2025, but that without the funding it would “miss components that would force we have to use manual processes here and there so it still isn't the way it was designed.

The city has experienced several street flooding over the past six months following an extremely dry summer in 2023.

FRIDAY NEWS: Credit card skimmers found in grocery stores in Jefferson, St. Tammany

FRIDAY NEWS: Tropical system in the Gulf possible by next weekend