The City of Lawton is looking for bids from companies that can install a new 20-inch water main to benefit the cobalt/nickel pilot plant project planned by Westwin Elements.
City Council members approved plans and specifications for that water main Tuesday. City staff will launch the bidding process for what is the first of a two-phase project that will install new industrial water main around 480 acres bounded by West Lee Boulevard and Bishop Road, between Southwest 97th and Southwest 112th streets. Phase 1, estimated at $2.8 million, will install 7,500 feet of 20-inch main along Southwest 97th Street (Goodyear Boulevard) from West Lee Boulevard to Bishop Road, then west on Bishop Road three-fourths of a mile to the southeast corner of the pilot plant site, a 40-acre tract on the north side of Bishop Road near Southwest 112th Street.
City officials have said they are trying to fast-track the project to help Westwin Elements meet the March 1, 2024, operational date for its pilot plant, a date specified in the $3 million economic incentive agreement city entities granted Westwin earlier this year. Tuesday’s decision means bids will be let immediately, then opened either Nov. 21 or Nov. 28 so they can be analyzed in time for a recommendation at the council’s Dec. 5 meeting. Pending approval of a firm at that meeting, the project’s notice to proceed will be issued Dec. 6, said Public Utilities Director Rusty Whisenhunt.
Whisenhunt said city officials also are buying 20-inch PVC pipe and 20-inch valves so the materials will be ready when the contractor is selected.
Phase 2 will come to the council “in the next few weeks,” city engineers said. That phase will complete the industrial water main loop, 18,000 feet of pipe that will continue on Bishop Road past Southwest 112th Street, then north to Lee Boulevard before looping back to Southwest 97th Street.
“A very short time frame is required to meet industrial plant completion date,” according to Whisenhunt’s agenda commentary.
Westwin Elements officials have said construction is slated to begin soon on the pilot plant, a scaled-down version of the full-size refinery that will provide the data they need for a bankable feasibility study that bankers and potential investors need.
Tuesday’s item was listed on the council’s consent agenda and was approved with no discussion.
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