By Scott Miller
Staff Writer

Partners in the World Trade Park and Education Research Center said the project can move forward with or without state funding or the struggling S.C. World Trade Center.

Orangeburg County and South Carolina State University partnered with the trade center on the project, commonly called WT-PERC, and recently split the cost of a $97,500 feasibility study for its development somewhere between interstates 95 and 26.

“I believe the strength of the project is not based solely on the WTC,” said Maurice Washington, chairman of the board of trustees at South Carolina State University. “If we were relying solely on the WTC that would impose some difficulties and some worries, but this is a collective effort with strong wills and sharp-minded business people.”

Since 2005, the state has given the trade center $197,688 annually to aid the development of WT-PERC as well as $100,000 to support the organization’s mission to advance international trade opportunities for South Carolina businesses.

This year, however, the Senate’s version of the budget cuts the entire allotment, leaving the financially distraught trade center struggling to keep the doors open. Board member Paul Roderique said the organization is more equipped to handle a reduction in state funding than a total cut, but is looking at “creative” approaches to cutting costs and increasing revenue

through private donations.

WT-PERC, meanwhile, is envisioned as a 3,000-acre trade park with a product distribution center, a research and business development center, a logistics transportation center and an education and training center. Cost is estimated at around $400 million with a five- to 10-year construction time frame.

If WT-PERC fails to materialize, something similar will, said Robert Rhea of ANGLE Technology Group, the consultant hired to conduct the feasibility study. The area’s transportation infrastructure with two interstates, the proximity to major ports in Charleston and Savannah, the relatively low cost of living and other factors make the region attractive to international companies, Rhea said, pointing to Jafza International as the example.

“It should be a great magnet for specialty manufacturing firms and distribution companies,” he said. “Major international players are finally beginning to discover the opportunities that are there. It’s going to be developed in any case. It’s going to happen, whether the WT-PERC project happens or not.”

Still, the consultant’s work is too preliminary to make any judgment calls specific to the WT-PERC project. The feasibility study is expected to be complete by early fall, possibly sooner.

Orangeburg County administrator Bill Clark noted that the feasibility study could help identify donors and corporate partners that could assist in the costs of developing WT-PERC so the project is not dependent on state funds or the WTC.

“We certainly look forward to exploring all those areas of mutual interest in developing that site,” he said. “Until that feasibility study is done, it probably would be premature for me to look too far down the road. Certainly it’s something we have optimism that it will lead to positive development, but we just want to be patient and wait to see the results of that feasibility study.”

While the World Trade Center has received state funding to aid in its development, the organization’s role with WT-PERC is to provide “wraparound services” once the project is finished. The scope of those services would be determined when the study is complete.

“I understand they’re having difficulties, but hopefully they’ll pull through because they provide very important communication links to the international trade marketplace,” Rhea said. “They have links both locally and internationally. They are very much part of the equation here.”

Scott Miller is a staff writer at the Business Journal. E-mail him at smiller@scbiznews.com.

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