PALMER, Alaska — An unwanted $80 million ice-breaking ferry only has one bid to buy it and it’s for $751,000.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that the $751,000 bid was the only bid entered by Friday’s deadline set up by the Matanuska-Sustina Borough, which has been trying to get rid of the prototype ferry. The borough doesn’t have to accept the bid.
Named the Susitna, it was built as a Navy prototype in 2011 that would be owned and operated by the borough. The project was funded mainly with Department of Defense earmarks by then-U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.
The borough does not have suitable docks or a workable business plan to operate it as a ferry between Anchorage and Port MacKenzie in the Mat-Su. It costs the borough $75,000 a month to maintain the vessel.
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Information from: Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, http://www.adn.com
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