The Iowa Transportation Commission approved millions of dollars in state aid Tuesday for five cities. Stuart Anderson of the Iowa Department of Transportation says the Aviva U.S.A. company won the largest chunk of money — over three-point-five million dollars — for road improvements to their business.
Anderson says the company is a unit of the London-based company that’s the fifth largest insurance company in the world, and this will be their headquarters in the U.S. Anderson says the Transportation Commission approved the money in two parts, that comes with a promise of 672 new jobs.
“That’s a lot of jobs, and they’re very well paying jobs as well,” Anderson says. He says the jobs pay well above the average county wage rate in Dallas County.
The City of Manchester won two grants, one for $306,000. Anderson says it’s tied to the All Energy Incorporated ethanol plant in Manchester, and will help create roadways into the plant. The second award to Manchester is for nearly $383,000 for roadway improvements to the city’s west end industrial park.
He says the improvements will provide access to 14 lots and improved access to the Lextron Animal Health Company, which is expanding. The company promises to create 51 new jobs. Tama County won an award of $750,000. Anderson says the county applied on behalf of the Sac and Fox tribe, which operates the Meskwaki Hotel and Casino, to construct a highway interchange on U.S. 30. The funding was tied to an expansion at the casino.
The total project will cost around six-million dollars, and Anderson says the tribe will pay about half. He says they’ll pay about three million dollars, and other grants from the Department of Transportation will pay for the rest. The city of Allison won an award of just over $517,000 to help a company expand. Anderson says Allen Industrial Coatings is looking to build a new plant to do a new powder coating treatment process. The company promises to create 105 new jobs.
The city of Belmond also won a grant of $282,000 to help create roadways into an ethanol plant on Highway 69 with the promise of 47 new jobs.