With all the regulatory hoops jumped through, construction will start soon on two utility projects linking Kershaw’s water system to Haile Gold Mine.
Those projects – running a 12-inch water line along Church Street to the mine property and building a 250,000-gallon water tank on the outskirts of town – should begin this fall. Once the work is complete, the town will have three water towers tied together.
Kershaw Mayor Mark Dorman said all the construction easements were obtained in August, the S.C. Department of Heath and Environmental Control has issued the required construction permits, and the S.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority (RIA) has signed off on the plan.
Davis & Floyd, an engineering firm that specializes in water projects, recently finished the bid documents and sent the projects out for bids.
“We hope to unseal those bids Sept. 20 to see what we have,” Dorman said. “That’s what we’re shooting for.”
The total estimated cost of the two water projects is $2.23 million, but the construction of the tank and water line projects were bid out separately.
Both bids could be awarded to the same contractor, but Dorman believes that is unlikely. The town hopes to have the two projects finished next February by having construction on both going on at the same time.
Kershaw was awarded two RIA grants totaling $1 million in 2015 for infrastructure projects at the gold mine to help bring jobs to that part of the county.
The rest of the money for the tank will come from OceanaGold, parent company of Haile Gold Mine.
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