New Orleans finalizes $1.2 billion FEMA settlement for infrastructure repairs

More than a decade after Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans has announced a $1.2 billion agreement with federal authorities to repair roads and underground sewer, water and drainage structures.

City officials joined Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate to announce the agreement Thursday (July 21).

Mayor Mitch Landrieu said the settlement follows long discussions on what damage was attributable to the 2005 storm and what existed beforehand. Landrieu said the $1.2 billion settlement brings the total amount of new infrastructure repair funding secured by his administration to more than $2 billion. Landrieu took office in 2010.

Landrieu said that money, plus about $1 billion from increased sewer and water fees, covers about a third of the more than $9 billion needed to repair city roads and underground infrastructure.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/07/new_orleans_finalizes_12_billi.html