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Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal recently announced his fiscal-year 2014 budget proposal will include an additional $50 million for the Georgia Ports Authority's (GPA) Savannah Harbor expansion project.

If approved, the proposal will increase state funding for the $652 million project to $231.1 million. Construction is slated to begin in 2013 on the expansion, which calls for deepening the harbor at the Port of Savannah from 42 feet to 47 feet.

"Expanding the Savannah Harbor is vital to our renewed economic growth and plays an integral role in helping make our state the No. 1 place in the nation in which to do business," said Deal in a prepared statement.

The authority plans to continue to working with federal officials to "cultivate further funding for a successful port deepening," said GPA Executive Director Curtis Foltz.