The St. Clair County Public Building Commission voted Tuesday to spend almost $2.24 million to enlarge the runway apron at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah. "It doubles the size," said Tim Cantwell, the airport director. "It gives us the opportunity to have four 747" air cargo planes on the ground at once, he said.
The expansion of MidAmerica's apron -- the runway ramp area where aircraft are parked, refueled and loaded and unloaded -- comes at a time when the building commission is seeking to turn the 12-year-old Mascoutah airport into a major conduit to China for perishable Midwestern goods, such as beef and grain.
The county has already started exploring the idea of making the airport into a hub for Asian carp raised in fisheries in Iowa and Illinois. At the airport, they would be loaded onto refrigerated containers aboard cargo planes bound for China.
In this connection, the commission Tuesday agreed to pay consultant Larry Taylor $10,000 per month through June to help put together a deal linking American exporters of perishable goods with Chinese buyers.
Cantwell emphasized that perishable goods also include chilled beef and pork, fruits, vegetables and processed meats. "So all these things that have never been exported out of this region may have a great opportunity to be exported out of this region," he said.
Imports being flown into the airport will also be a major consideration, Cantwell said, pointing to a photo of a huge air freighter from Shanghai, China, that had landed at the airport Sunday night. "Fifty million dollars of computer parts right there," he said. "On a one-way charter. We entertain this all the time." "It shows that we're really doing business," said Rick Sauget, Sr., the commission chairman. "Really doing business."
The Federal Aviation Administration will provide 95 percent of the money for the runway improvements, or about $2.1 million, with the other 5 percent split equally between St. Clair County and the state of Illinois, Cantwell said.
Baxmeyer Construction Co., of Waterloo, won the bid to serve as the project's primary contractor. The cost of the project was estimated last year at $2.35 million.
(BY MIKE FITZGERALD, News-Democrat )
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