Video: Tenessee Valley Authority Declares 3rd Mega Site in Lowndes County

By: Salena Schaffer

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-

The economic development picture in the Golden Triangle is becoming clearer.

The LINK is sitting on a crown jewel to attract another large industry.

Tennessee Valley Authority representatives announce a third mega site in Lowndes County today.

It’s rare for TVA to certify one mega site in a community, now Lowndes County has its third.

There must be land, rail, water and utilities in place.

And there’s a lot just off Airport Road…

“Places that were once plantations are now immaculate subdivisions. And places that were once farm sites are now called mega sites.” said Leroy Brooks, of Lowndes County.

A steel mill and an engine manufacturer were built on Lowndes County’s two other mega sites.

Now, there is a third certified TVA mega site nearby.

“You know in the prior sites you had a couple billion dollars of investment and a couple thousand jobs and beyond those jobs are spin off jobs, multiplier jobs, so we’re hoping that this will do the exact same thing. It is the best site of the 3 so we have big hopes for what’s going to come here and we expect it’ll be developed fairly quickly.” said TVA’s CEO, Bill Johnson.

Lowndes County is the only county in the world with three mega sites.

This plot of land could lure a company that would possibly bring as many as 6000 new jobs to the area.

“We’re shovel ready, which means we’re ready to break ground.” said Brenda Lathan.

With all of the infrastructure and land in place, Golden Triangle Link CEO Joe Max Higgins says it’s a close connection with EMCC that will help lure another large job maker to Lowndes County.

Higgins says having enough people with workforce skills is key to landing that big industry, and companies are already looking at the area.

It takes at least nine months of work before an area can become a TVA certified mega site.