The mayor's Feb. 10 update on the rail project and how it affects jobs, the economy and our island's future hit on several key points that are important not only to our industry, but for future generations of our people.

Our organization, the General Contractors Association, was founded in 1932 to assist its members in providing quality people and quality projects using skill, responsibility and integrity. We have never seen a recession of this magnitude and its devastating effect on the industry and its work force. We see firsthand how it hurts families, hurts their dependents and places entire households in jeopardy. The solution is job creation of such a magnitude that it would put the greatest number of our people back to work in the shortest time.

The Honolulu Rail Transit Project is the biggest immediate job stimulus spark plug available in the state of Hawaii today. It would put thousands of our people back to work starting this year, and they will then put this money back into our economy. We have a local funding mechanism in place as well as commitments from the Federal Transit Administration.

The greater and more important reason for starting the rail project now is that it is the right thing to do for improving the quality of life for our future generations and for the long term protection of our environment. It can provide the greatest shift away from our overdependence on imported crude oil and the emissions of millions of tons of carbon dioxide. The state has a strategic energy plan that will start reducing our dependence on imported crude oil by 2020. The rail project will offer the quickest, easiest and biggest transition of all our transportation systems toward the use of clean renewable energy sources, whether it is solar, wind, geothermal, ocean, biofuels or any combination thereof that would produce clean electricity.

Rail is transportation infrastructure necessary for our island's quality, growth and prosperity. But a significant side benefit is the economic stimulus effect it would bring to our entire state now. Simply put, rail means jobs.