Stormwater Project the First Public-Private Partnership for the Army Corps

"It's one of the biggest and most ambitious infrastructure projects in America right now: a $2.75 billion plan to build a new channel to divert flood waters from the Red River for 30 miles around Fargo, N.D., in order to save the area from future floods," reports Daniel C. Vock.

The Red River diversion project requires the cooperation of local officials, state authorities from North Dakota and Minnesota, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The state of Minnesota finally cleared the way for the project recently after a two-year standoff, and now it's up to North Dakota state legislators to fund the remainder of the project's cost.

As for the unprecedented involvement of the private sector on the project, Vock provides the following information:

A specially created local government entity, called the Diversion Authority, would then be primarily responsible for building the channel between the reservoir and a point downstream on the Red River from Fargo. The diversion agency, though, plans to hire a private consortium to build the 30-mile channel and maintain it for 30 years. It already has three contracting groups that have indicated they would be interested in undertaking the project.

The article also lists several desired benefits of the P3 arrangement.