LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) – Chennault International Airport is making millions of dollars in improvements to its infrastructure.

The airport says the point of the projects is to pave the way for more onsite development, which will lead to job growth in Southwest Louisiana.

“Jobs… that’s what it is all about… and putting these facilities ready to get people here,” said W.J. Lechtenberg, principal engineer for Lechtenberg Consulting.

One of the projects is the implementation of an underground “utility corridor” to deliver power, water and other services to areas of the airport that are ready for new development such as hangars and other aircraft facilities.

“When we have a tenant that is ready to come in and build something, we don’t have to wait for utilities to get to it, its ready for them right now,” said Lechtenberg.

The other project is a newly-constructed wastewater treatment facility which replaces the old facility damaged by Hurricane Laura. It is designed to handle around 300,000 gallons of runoff from aircraft stripping and painting operations.

“More tanks, larger volume tanks, they’ve got six 50,000 gallon tanks here now that are more fit for the processes for the aircraft stripping industry today,” said Randy Liprie, owner of Liprie Engineering.

The larger tanks mean more operations, which leads to increased job demand.

“Anyone with an aircraft, any company with an aircraft in the world can come here and they can get their systems taken care of,” said Liprie.

Chennault contracted local engineers and consultants for these new projects.

Liprie Engineering is one of the companies contracted by the airport and has been a part of Chennault’s rebound from Laura.

“There has been a whole lot of work done here for the good of the community, we see a great future here at Chennault,” said Liprie.

Other facilities under construction include a new fire-water pump house and a guard house that will both be finished by the end of the year.

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