Myrtle Beach airport expansion would offer promise of jobs

Close to fifty people showed up at a seminar for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Thursday night.

The event put together by Horry County Government and Horry County Department of Airports happened at the James R. Frazier Community Center.

Officials talked to local contractors, minorities and women about taking part in learning about the many jobs that will be available with the Myrtle Beach Airport Expansion Project that’s already underway.

Business owner Joann Leddy said that she’s looking to get her hands on a promising opportunity that she said could help her put some of her former laid off employees back to work.

“The issue is that there is such a high rate of unemployment here,” said Leddy, “maybe this would be enough to push at least our area of the state out of recession a little bit and give a few people that nudge back to being able to pay their bills and buy the things that they need for their children, and get back to a normal life and if I can be a part of that I’d love to.“
   
“This is an investment in Horry County the more dollars we can keep here that recycle through the community and have great spin off value and again going back the number one issue is jobs for the local residents the more Horry County residents we can put to work on this program the better off everybody will be,” Bill Cram Executive VP for M.B Kahn.

The $130 million expansion includes adding five terminal gates to the seven already there and making a path for the extension of Harrelson Boulevard past the airport.

Georgetown County resident Jill Miller who works for a minority owned contractor said that the expansion project came at a good time.

“Our county I think we’ve got probably good half of our children on free lunches in our schools, our paper mill is closed our steel mill is gone so we need to bring as many people as we can to work,“ Miller said.

“This is America we are not supposed to struggle like that you know we’re supposed to help each other and I’m hoping that this will help me enough that I can help others,” said Leddy.

Officials said the expansion project will create constructions jobs for carpenters, concrete finishers, masons roofers, electricians, plumbers and dry wall professionals.