A worn-out lift station that pumps sewage from neighborhoods in south Vicksburg will be overhauled and replaced this summer, said officials who called the work &#8220long overdue.”

The Bazinsky Lift Station, located near Lake Hill and The Ridge apartment complexes and the Engineer Research and Development Center on Bazinsky Road, will be outfitted with new, above-ground pumps to help move sewage from surrounding neighborhoods to the city pump station, said Willie McCroy of the city Sewer Department. The current pumps are underground, he said.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen received three sealed bids for the project at its regular board meeting Monday, ranging from $334,000 to more than $360,000.

&#8220It’s just old,” said Wayne Mansfield, director of the Planning Department. &#8220Given our hills, we have to have a way to lift the sewage.”

The station was not built to handle the use it’s getting from areas added to the south and southeast of the city in 1990, said South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman. That annexation nearly tripled the city’s size, adding 21.5 square miles to bring its total area to 34 square miles after an eight-year court battle.

Many residents in the annexed neighborhoods were still without city utilities such as sewer service 10 years after officially becoming part of the city, though sewer lines throughout the area were completed largely from $7 million in city-issued bonds.

&#8220It’s too small. It breaks down all the time,” Beauman said.

Three companies bid on the project: Delta Construction of Jackson ($346,900), Hemphill Construction Co. of Florence ($334,000) and Greenbriar Construction Co. of Brookhaven ($361,900).

The bids will go to the planning and legal departments for review, with a recommendation on beginning work expected at the board’s next meeting on May 25.

In other business, the board: