CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A project that many thought was dead is now being revived. The Inner Harbor desalination plant, once rejected by the Corpus Christi City Council, is making a comeback. Mayor Paulette Guajardo dropped the bombshell during her State of the City address, saying she plans to bring the controversial project back before council.

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Guajardo told 3NEWS that since the city’s original partner, Kiewit, is no longer involved, Corpus Christi could now turn to the next bidder in line. “Now that we do not have Kiewit to work with, we do have another option to go to the next bidder, and so that’s what will be discussed,” she said.

Councilman Mark Scott says if the city doesn’t move quickly, the state could take matters into its own hands. “I think the state’s position is there’s going to be a desalination project. The question is do we do it, or does the state do it?” Scott said.

The council voted back in September to kill the project after costs skyrocketed past the $1 billion mark. Councilwoman Carolyn Vaughn says the governor’s office might be more than willing to take over and pay for it. “If the governor wants to come in here and take it over and pay for it, that’s awesome. ’Cause it was all about the price for me,” Vaughn said. “So if they want to take it over, go ahead. I don’t know how the other cities in Texas are going to feel about a governor coming in and taking over a situation in a city, but we’ll see.”

State Senator Chuy Hinojosa, who represents much of South Texas and sits on the Senate Finance Committee, says funding shouldn’t be a dealbreaker. “At the end of the day, the state always provides grants to help close the gap,” he told 3 News.

Hinojosa pointed out that the Texas Water Development Board currently has about $6 billion in bonding authority, with lawmakers adding another $2.7 billion just last session. He also says there’s money available through the federal Clean Water Act. In his view, there’s more than enough funding to make the Inner Harbor desalination project a reality whether it’s done by the city or the state.