Wednesday, April 22, 1998 | 10:31 a.m.
Nevada's senators have introduced a bill to transfer federal Bureau of Land Management Land to the Clark County Department of Aviation for a cargo airport in the Ivanpah Valley 30 miles south of Las Vegas.
The Ivanpah Valley Airport Public Lands Transfer Act would turn 6,650 acres over to develop an airport that would become part of a global cargo distribution network. It also would assure Southern Nevada of airport facilities away from populated areas well into the 21st century.
The Ivanpah Valley site is north of Primm, west of Interstate 15. About 2,000 acres would be developed as an airport with the remaining land set aside as an industrial park with warehousing facilities and quick access to the highway and the rail line.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said $400 million in private capital is available to develop the airport. A leading proponent to develop the airport -- NIIAC Development LLC -- introduced the plan to build an airport in connection with a global cargo network in early 1997.
NIIAC is a partnership between Dumez-GTM, a French engineering firm, and Hamilton Associates, a White Plains, N.Y., investment bank.
Under terms of the bill, introduced jointly by Reid and Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., Clark County would be required to pay fair market value for the property and would continue to manage the airport, even though private funds would be used to build it.
"The Las Vegas Valley needs to begin developing other airports to accommodate passenger, air cargo and charter flights," Reid said in introducing the legislation. "It is inevitable that McCarran Airport is reaching its capacity."
If the bill is approved, an appraisal would occur within six months. Officials familiar with the project estimate construction could begin in 1999.
A House version of the bill is expected to be introduced today by Reps. John Ensign and Jim Gibbons, both R-Nev.
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