There are 793 active industrial projects scheduled to begin construction in 2005 and beyond in the “Lone Star State,” according to Houston-based Industrial Information Resources (IIR). These projects have a total investment value of more than $34.5 billion.
This makes Texas the third largest state for projects in the pre-construction stage in the United States, after California and Alaska. California has a large, established industrial base, and is also home to a significant number of infrastructure projects, such as the planning for light rail expansion. Alaska may surprise many as being the second state because it has a very small industrial base, but its natural resources are attracting development of several very large oil and gas processing, storage, and pipeline projects in the pre-construction stage. On the other hand, in Texas, power generation, LNG storage and distribution, and petrochemical processing lead project development.