The municipalities, as well as the parishes of the state are authorized to acquire property for any of the works of public improvement, enumerated in R.S. 34:361, either by purchase, donation, or expropriation, and to make any of the said works and anything connected therewith as they may deem necessary in order to make the same effective; and, having acquired the same, to lease such portion of said property as they deem proper for industrial development. For this purpose they are especially authorized to enter into contracts for these works, or to purchase machinery and to supervise the making of these works, and other acts necessary to carry out this grant.
In the case of municipalities, this authority exists, whether the works lie wholly within or wholly without their corporate limits, or partly within and partly without their corporate limits.
La. Navigation and Shipping § 34:362