Four construction projects at Hill Air Force Base - two of them major, multimillion-dollar jobs - are on hold as Defense Secretary Dick Cheney reviews the federal military budget.
The hold is in addition to the review that a consolidated maintenance facility is undergoing at Tooele Army Depot. Construction began last year on the $30 million project, but Cheney ordered a review to determine if it should be canceled.Bob McKenzie, chief of the engineering branch for the 2849th Civil Engineering Squadron, Hill AFB, told the Deseret News that projects on that base affected by a construction moratorium are:
-A consolidated telecommunications center to house Hill's 1881st Communications Squadron.
-An explosive ordinance disposal facility, to be built north of Browning Street between Aspen and Second Street on the base.
-An addition to the child development center.
-A depot procurement facility, to connect four buildings.
The first two projects are major developments. They are nearly to the stage where contractors would be asked to bid on them, except for the moratorium which expires on June 15. A call for bids is now slated to go out on June 19 for the communications center.
According to McKenzie, the latter two projects were on the drawing boards for 1992, but they were moved up by congressional action. They are not as far advanced as the first two.
However, the child-development center addition and the procurement facility can't go further in the design process until the moratorium ends.
The moratorium was announced in March, in light of uncertainties about the Defense Department's future budget. It was to expire April 30, but has been extended until the mid-June date.
The expected costs of the projects weren't announced because bid requests haven't yet gone out.
A call to bid on the telecommunications center is to be issued on June 19, McKenzie said. Because of the delay, the projects' completion might be delayed for six to nine months, since winter weather can interfere with the building.
"We'll loose some of our summer construction season," he said. "We may loose some of our winter construction time."
Throughout the American military establishment, building projects are on hold. "They're doing quite a look-see in the Department of Defense to see which bases are going to be more permanent than others," McKenzie said.
Hill spokesman Len Barry said it's unlikely that the base would be closed.
Construction projects planned later than these four include a depot warehouse, a storage facility and two MX Missile projects.