March 29, 2024
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$6.4M border station contract awarded

VAN BUREN – A partnership of three local companies is expected to begin construction next month on a new border patrol station in Van Buren after securing a $6.4 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Army Corps of Engineers.

Sen. Susan Collins announced this week that CJP Associates in Caribou received the firm-fixed price contract for the 10,800-square-foot building, which will be built on U.S. Route 1A at the former Van Buren Drive-In Theater, about a quarter-mile north of the present station in Hamlin. The facility will be constructed on a minimum lot size of 10 acres.

CJP Associates is made up of County Electric Inc.; JP Martin and Sons Inc.; and Industrial Heating and Piping Inc., all of Caribou. Jim Martin, owner of JP Martin and Sons Inc., and spokesman for CJP Associates, said Friday the partnership – one of four that bid for the project and the only one from Maine – is excited to have garnered the contract.

“It feels great,” Martin said. “Basically, all our employees are from this area, and most major subcontractors and suppliers are from this area, so it’s a lot more benefit to the region than an out-of-state contractor.”

Partnership officials expect crews to begin construction in early June, work through the winter and complete the facility by November 2007.

Martin said that the companies are not expecting to hire many more people for the project, but that 20 to 50 workers will be on site as work progresses.

This is the partnership’s second-largest contract. In 1997, officials completed a $7 million project for the U.S. Department of Labor at the Loring Job Corps Center, Martin said.

The Army Corps of Engineers is moving forward on the Van Buren project as part of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security plan to replace outdated facilities at three locations near the U.S.-Canada border. The other two sites are in Jackman and Baileyville.

The Van Buren site, built in the 1960s, has room for four agents, but with increased border security since Sept. 11, 2001, there are now seven agents working there. The 40-year-old site is difficult to rewire for modern technology systems.

The 10-acre site would allow for future expansion, officials have said. Future options at the site include a 10,000-square-foot impound lot, and an additional 11,400 square feet for a vehicle sally port, equipment repair shop, vehicle storage, maintenance area and an anti-smuggling unit area. There also is room for a 16,000-square-foot helicopter landing zone and an indoor firing range. The area would be fenced in.


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