Folsom,
NJ – Today, New Jersey Board of Public
Utilities (BPU) President Jeanne M. Fox, along with company
officials and workers of South Jersey Gas, toured a natural
gas pipeline project site located in Winslow Twp., N.J. President
Fox reviewed the progress of South Jersey Gas’ (SJG)
infrastructure projects that are part of a statewide utility
effort to spur jobs and provide a major boost to the state’s
economy.
The capital infrastructure project being toured was approved
by the BPU earlier this year to upgrade utility infrastructure
throughout the state The site visited today is a section
of a three-part project that involves replacing bare steel
main with plastic main. This particular section runs along
Route 30 from Garfield Avenue in Chesilhurst to Ehrke Road
in Winslow Township. Approximately 16,900 feet of 8 inch
plastic main and approximately 50 residential and commercial
services are being installed.
“South Jersey Industries’ gas pipeline project
is one of many capital infrastructure projects throughout
the state that are driven by Governor Corzine’s Economic
Recovery and Assistance Plan for New Jersey – the first
state stimulus plan in the country,” said BPU President
Jeanne M. Fox. “Working with the state’s utilities
we are creating jobs and providing a major boost to the state’s
economy by expediting necessary capital investments in our
utility infrastructure.”
Upon completion of the three-part project, a total of 59,300
feet of 8-inch plastic main and approximately 184 services
will run from Winslow Township to Hammonton, N.J. The $4.9
million project is expected to be completed by December 13,
2009.
J. F. Kiely Construction
Co. is the subcontractor performing the pipeline installation
for SJG. The project is being conducted out of Kiely’s Egg Harbor Township office. Kiely expects
to employee over 20 workers for the 16,900 foot section of
pipe. SJG’s accelerated bare steel main replacement
project will be in progress during the remainder of 2009
through 2010. It is expected that additional jobs will be
created as a result.
“We answered the call of Governor Corzine and President
Fox for New Jersey’s energy utilities to assist with
stimulating the economy through infrastructure investment,” stated
South Jersey Gas president and CEO Edward J. Graham. “This
project is one of many that we have agreed to undertake and
we are prepared to spend a total of $103 million to accelerate
our infrastructure spending over the next two years. We were
fortunate to be able to purchase quantities of steel pipe
for our projects at a 60 percent discount, therefore, these
projects will increase reliability and pipeline system integrity
at an extremely small cost to our customers,” Graham
added.
South Jersey Gas is the principal subsidiary of South Jersey
Industries (NYSE:SJI) and provides natural gas service to
more than 340,000 residential, commercial and industrial
customers in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem, and significant
portions of Gloucester, Burlington and Camden counties in
New Jersey. Visit http://www.southjerseygas.com to learn
more about South Jersey Gas and its programs. Visit http://www.nj.gov/bpu to find out more about the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
and the work its does.
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