USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT AWARDS $2.2 MILLION GRANT, $832,000 LOAN TO KLAWOCK FOR WATER
Water, Waste Water Lines to be Extended to Mary Jackson
PALMER, AK, February 25 -- The Alaska state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development mission area, Ernie Brannon, today announced the award of a $2,204,000 grant and a $832,000 low interest loan to the city of Klawock, located on Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska. The grant and loan funds will be used by the city to extend the water and wastewater system into the Mary Jackson subdivision.
"USDA Rural Development is proud to be a partner in the extension of the water lines into Mary Jackson," USDA's Under Secretary for Rural Development Jill Long Thompson said in Washington. "Projects such as this demonstrate USDA's and the Clinton/Gore Administration's commitment to developing rural areas so that rural residents will have the same access to jobs and municipal services as do people living in larger towns and cities."
The Mary Jackson subdivision, which has 237 lots, was set up as a local improvement district, with user fees to be used to repay the loan. The loan has a 40 year repayment period at an interest rate of 4.875%.
"This project will allow badly needed housing to be built in Klawock," said Ernie Brannon. "Rural Development is pleased to provide funding for this high priority project."
An additional $1.8 million is being contributed to complete this project by the city of Klawock, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Indian Health Service.
USDA's Water and Waste Water program, administered through USDA Rural Development's Rural Utilities Service, is designed to bring fresh, clean drinking water and sanitary and environmentally sound wastewater facilities to rural America. Loans and grants are available to rural communities of fewer than 10,000 residents.
The USDA Rural Development mission area was created in 1994 and includes the Rural Business-Cooperative Service, the Rural Housing Service and the Rural Utilities Service. Its mission is to use the resources of USDA to provide an improved quality of life for the nation's 53 million rural people.
Contact:
Ernest W. Brannon, State Director
USDA Rural Development
(907) 745-2176