The city has hired a project manager that officials say will speed the rebuilding of infrastructure damaged during Hurricane Katrina.

Colorado-based MWH was awarded a contract the city expects to be worth about $6 million. The total amount it gets will depend, though, on the level of work it does, according to the city.

Ed Blakely, New Orleans' recovery director, on Thursday said the contract should make the rebuilding process more efficient and that the bundling of similar projects should drive down costs. This is the approach the private sector would take, he added.

MWH's role will include monitoring the work; ensuring uniformity in documentation provided to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursement; and making the process more transparent, company chief executive Bob Uhler said. Projects will be prioritized by a city team, and bundled, meaning fire houses will be done with fire houses, police stations with police stations, and so forth.

Blakely said the firm is being brought on now, nearly 2 1/2 years after Katrina, because it took time for the city to figure out what needed to be rebuilt, where, and on what timetable. He said the city also was limited in the number of architects it had available, and that having MWH on board should alleviate that.

Mayor Ray Nagin estimated the city would have more than $1 billion in projects over the next few years.

The city expects project information to be posted online by next month. A Web site for another city, demonstrated at a Thursday news conference, allows people to search for projects and to get details on those in their neighborhoods. It wasn't clear whether that same sort of site would be set up for New Orleans.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)