Apr 5--US Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao said the Trump administration's planned infrastructure initiative valued at US$1 trillion over 10 years would "include energy, water and potentially broadband and veterans hospitals as well," Reuters reported.
Shipping and logistics industry analysts had hoped the entirety of the president's $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan would be used to fund the rebuilding of ailing US roads and bridges, and improving port and inland infrastructure for cargo movement, according to American Shipper.
Ms Chao did not reveal any further details of the plan, apart from saying that it would be released later this year and would aim to speed up the government approval process for project funding.
The president earlier this month released a preliminary budget proposal for 2018 that would cut funding for US Department of Transportation by 13 per cent from 2016 levels to $16.2 billion, as well as scrap the former US President's Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant programme launched in 2009 to revitalize ailing transportation infrastructure nationwide.
(Source:shippingazette)