Cape Girardeau County has been awarded a grant to fund harbor dredging at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority for 2010. According to a news release issued Thursday by the Missouri Department of Economic Development, the county received a Community Development Block Grant grant totaling $425,000 to cover the project.

Dan Overby, executive director at the port, said the port will be dredged the week of Nov. 15. Overby said the port received bids for the dredging from three companies. The contract was awarded to BayShore Contractors from Grand Rapids, Mich. The company's bid was the lowest at $385,000. BayShore will subcontract with Magruder Construction of Eolia, Mo.

Overby said he is relieved to be able to dredge the port. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for dredging the port until recently, when the port's five-year average of shipped tonnage dropped below 1 million tons a year, to 850,000 tons a year. Currently there is no funding in place for the 2011 dredging, but Overby said Sen. Kit Bond has placed an earmark in the budget to cover the cost.

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