The $787.2 billion stimulus package signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday has Dallas-based Beck Group CEO Peter Beck licking his chops. But, in a press release just sent thisaway, Beck says he thinks the money spigots won’t be fully engaged until 2010. Of the nearly $800 billion, about $130 billion will pay for construction projects, with road construction jobs getting most of the money. Jump for more.
The Beck press release quotes McGraw Hill’s Engineering News Record and the Associated General Contractors in predicting that the gummy gears of government (my wording, not theirs) will only be able to crank out 11 percent of the stimulus money this year, adding:
The challenge for all participants, government, developers, architects and contractors alike, will be getting the new funding committed to construction projects in a reasonable amount of time.
Schools of all sorts (read: University of North Texas Dallas) can line up for nearly $40 billion in construction projects. My take on this: As long as the government doesn’t follow the Rebuild Iraq model of infrastructure refurbishment, we’ll probably all be better off. (Where is Harry Truman when we need him?) From the contracting perspective, the people at Beck Group are watching the stimulus money (or pork, for the hardcore conservatives out there) like hawks because they plan, design and build things like Dallas’ Nasher Sculpture Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art in L.A., and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
