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(NewsDakota.com) – The Jamestown Public Works Committee approved a tentative extension date of 43 calendar days for the East Business Loop construction project at Thursday’s committee meeting.

The project was originally scheduled to be completed Oct. 31, 2011, but the contractor still has about two months of work to do following the winter shutdown of the construction season. The committee approved a 43-day extension for various delays, which now makes the project completion date May 13.

The contractor estimates it will complete work about a month later on June 13. For each day over May 13 that work continues, $2,200 will be deducted from the payment to the contractor.

Also Thursday, several business owners on the East Business Loop approached the committee about being compensated for lost business during the East Business Loop construction project. They suggested a 5-year tax abatement that many new businesses in town receive.

The committee instructed city attorney Ken Dalsted to see if the city has any tools through which they can offer compensation for the issue.