A top official involved with Base Relocation and Closure told local airport officials they had his support on Thursday.

Paul Dordal, executive director of the BRAC regional task force and a retired general, toured the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport on Thursday before telling two dozen officials that the task force would seek funds for the beleaguered airport from the U.S. Department of Defense.

"When you look at how LMA is (geographically) positioned... it is perfectly positioned to become that inland port, or that inter-modal distribution center in the future," Dordal said. "I think that is a great way to sell that."

He suggested airport officials try to leverage the the growth the region will see from BRAC in seeking funding. Officials expect tens of thousands to relocate around Fayetteville as part of the military reorganization effort.

He heralded the success of the task force at bringing federal dollars to the 11 tiered counties that are impacted by BRAC.

Its brought national attention and significant growth to the region, the retired general said.

"It hasn't really affected Scotland County much, which is why we think that tying this in with the All-American Defense Corridor and the promoting and marketing of the effort and the military side of it is very important," Dordal said.

"The real question is how do we take advantage of the growth of Fort Bragg to convince people that they need to spend some big dollars on Laurinburg-Maxton Airport in the future," Dordal said. "You have to convince a lot of people at different levels that this is going to provide a benefit to different businesses in the area, to the people you are trying to establish as clients and customers and the return on investment to the people that are going to be investing in this."

Dordal advised airport officials make an argument to possible funding sources built around the extreme poverty level in this part of the state.

The airport, located on the eastern side of Scotland County near the Robeson County line, is owned by Laurinburg and Maxton. Scotland County has the second highest poverty and unemployment rates in the state while Robeson County has the highest poverty rate.

He also suggested there were a number of good opportunities after the proposed runway project is completed to attract businesses.

As an example, he pointed to delivery services like FedEx and UPS that could use a distribution center in the area but would be turned off by the condition of the runway.

The catch is, these companies won't put money up for the runway project so the airport will have to find a different way to pay for renovations, Dordal said.

The airport has the worst runway in the state, according to the North Carolina Division of Aviation. The concrete runway was installed by the U.S. military during World War II and has only seen minor repairs since then.

Officials initially said it would take $20 million to fix the runway but new plans could see a new runway for a third of that.

The airport is weighing two plans – laying down four inches of asphalt on top of the current runway for an estimated cost of $5.3 million or laying down six inches of asphalt for an estimated cost of $6.3 million.

The first plan would be rated at 60,000 pounds while the extra two inches of asphalt would allow 210,000 pounds. The airport has shown preference towards the latter as it could keep its current clients and would be able to land military aircrafts that could not land on the cheaper runway.

The Division of Aviation promised $4 million in funding for the project but that funding has been questioned as the state does not want to fund the construction of asphalt runways if less than four inches of the material is laid or if the runway supports more than 60,000 pounds.