Officials worry about delays at I-20/59 industrial park

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
Oct. 11, 2003
Local economic developers fear infrastructure delays at the Interstate 20/59 industrial park could send potential automotive suppliers elsewhere.
Tommy Dulaney, former chairman of the East Mississippi Business Development Corp., said Friday that it has taken "longer than expected" for Meridian officials to provide water and sewer to the industrial park.
Dulaney said it's a critical time for East Mississippi because prospective suppliers for the Hyndai plant in Montgomery, Ala., want to be in trial production by the summer of 2004.
Dulaney's comments came a year after a federal economic development official announced a $1.5 million federal grant to help finance the water and sewer infrastructure at the 600-acre industrial park.
The money came from an Economic Development Administration