Construction of a contentious, high-voltage power line through the area will create hundreds of construction jobs.
PPL Electric Utilities, an Allentown-based power company that is a partner in the $1.2 billion Susquehanna-Roseland line, awarded a $200 million contract to an Arizona company for construction on its section of the project.
"By the end of October, we expect the initial phases of the work to be happening," PPL spokesman Paul Wirth said.
The project will create at least 200 jobs for members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1319 in Wilkes-Barre, said Jason Bonner, the union's assistant business manager.
"It will be a good boost to the economy of the area," Bonner said. "This area was hit quite hard by the recession."
PPL awarded the construction pact to T&D Power Inc., a company that specializes in construction of high-voltage power lines. T&D is a division of MasTec Inc., a Miami-area construction consortium. MasTec spokesman J. Marc Lewis declined to comment.
The $200 million contract only covers labor and management costs and excludes expenses for poles, wires, transformers, substation construction materials and other expenses, Wirth said.
PPL recently revised the cost of its 100-mile segment of the line to $560 million from $510 million. The original cost estimate dates to 2007 and prices for materials have increased, Wirth said.
PPL's segment runs from the Berwick area to Bushkill and the construction will affect an area from Exeter Township to the Delaware River.
"They are going to build about 70 miles of power line with this contract," Wirth said.
PPL's segment will intersect with a 55-mile section of the line to be erected by its partner in the project, Newark, N.J.-based Public Service Electric & Gas.
The regional power-line work will create spinoff economic benefits for retailers, restaurants and other commercial operations, Bonner said.