Lingle seeks to keep construction-boom money, jobs in state
| • | Leaders stress importance of military projects |
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Gov. Linda Lingle promised building and trade leaders last night that she will work with them to make sure most of the money and jobs expected to be generated by a construction boom will stay within the state.
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"Everyone in our administration sees business, labor and government working together as partners and now, in the situation of a lack of labor that we're projecting, this collaboration and partnership is going to be more important than ever," Lingle told members of the Pacific Resource Partnership, a consortium of contractors and the Hawai'i Carpenters Union, at a Pacific Club gathering.
"We're not sitting idly by and hoping that things work out all right in the area of skilled labor," Gov. Linda Lingle said.
"The one thing we want to avoid at all costs is to avoid any leakage of this money outside of our own state and we are all committed to minimizing that leakage."
With a housing boom already going strong, Lingle handed lawmakers a $539 million supplemental construction project request last month consisting largely of repair and maintenance of existing facilities such as schools, harbors, parks and roads.
Lingle said she does not anticipate that those projects, by themselves, will lead to a shortage of construction labor.
What is more daunting, she said, is the military's decision to renovate and rebuild its housing inventory in the state, which could infuse the state's economy with as much as $10 billion worth of construction over the next decade. That's not including the work expected to be generated by 50-year maintenance contracts for those facilities and the expected arrival of an Army Stryker brigade and possibly an aircraft carrier air wing.
Lingle said that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is working with the Pacific Resource Partnership, the community colleges and others in preparation of the projects.
"We're not sitting idly by and hoping that things work out all right in the area of skilled labor," the governor said.
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, headed by Director Micah Kane, has been working with several trade unions to develop new apprenticeship programs. Additionally, Lingle said, Kane is talking to the Pacific Resources Partnership and the Hawai'i Carpenters Union about the possibility of establishing a training facility for apprentices at Kalaeloa, the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station.
"We want this money that's going to be generated by the federal government, by the state government and by the private sector to stay here at home in Hawai'i," she said.
"We want to avoid importing labor."
Bruce Coppa, managing director for the Pacific Resources Partnership, said the facility would provide a new home for its existing apprenticeship program.
Coppa said he isn't worried about the need to import workers. "I think we've got time to gear up," he said. "There's a lot of talking now. We've got to meet the challenge."
Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
