Louisiana City to Upgrade Natural Gas Pipelines

The Baker City Council has approved a bid for a project in the works for more than 20 years to upgrade some of the city’s natural gas pipelines.

Mayor Harold Rideau tells The Advocate the city has been trying to secure funding since 1990 to upgrade some natural gas pipelines in the Morvant, Leland and Baker Heights area.

Valentine & LeBlanc LLC secured the project with a low bid of $1.027 million.

Kevin Gravois, vice president of Professional Engineering Consultants Corp., the company that reviewed all five bids for the city, told the council Tuesday the project would mostly involve repairing old pipelines and replacing home meters.

The project will be funded by a $635,000 grant from the Hurricane Gustav/Ike Disaster Recovery Fund and $750,000 in capital outlay support.