Federal officials gave Fisher Sand and Gravel a $1.28 billion deal to build 42 miles of the border wall along the southern border in Arizona, The Arizona Daily Star reported.
This May 6 deal is the biggest contract ever given for border wall construction, according to CBS News.
The wall will stretch between Nogales, Arizona and Tohono O’odham Nation’s eastern boundary, The Daily Star said.
The per-mile cost of this project will be $30 million, which is more than normal due to the difficulties with the land contours of this 42-mile stretch.
“While there may be similarities between projects, each project cost is contingent upon its unique characteristics, such as geotechnical, topographical, hydrological and hydraulic, underground utilities, final real estate access, and the cost of materials and labor,” Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Jay Field told The Daily Star.
Tommy Fisher, who runs the North Dakota-based company, successfully launched a campaign to get President Donald Trump and federal officials to award him the contract.
Republican North Dakota Senator John Hoeven said in a statement, according to KFYRTV, “Fisher Industries is a large employer in North Dakota and we appreciate the contributions this company is making to strengthen our border security.”
Fisher Sand and Gravel, which has offices in Tempe, Arizona, received another federal government contract last year for $400 million to build 31 miles of border wall in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.
However, after receiving this contract, the Department of Defense launched an audit into how the deal went down. The audit is still ongoing, The Daily Star said.
Fisher’s company has experience building border walls along the Mexican border as it helped We Build the Wall assemble its privately funded border wall in New Mexico.
Border security is a top priority for President Trump. In 2019, Trump directed almost $4 billion from military funds to be spent on building a wall along the southern border.
Last month, The Daily Signal reported that Chad Wolf expects that 450 miles of border wall construction will be done by the end of 2020.
At the beginning of the year, the Trump administration announced that 100 miles of the border wall had been built.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected]. Follow Zachery on Twitter @zacheryschmidt2.
