About $1 billion worth of construction projects are under way or planned at Midlands military bases.

The biggest chunk, some $800 million, is for a dozen projects at Columbia’s Fort Jackson, the Army’s largest training center.

The military spending should boost the local economy, said Ike McLeese, president of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

“This new construction will bring jobs and capital expenditures to our community at a most welcome time,” McLeese said.

At Fort Jackson, the money includes buildings for two military missions that were moved to the post by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, commonly called BRAC.

READ MORE from The State