JACKSON - Members of a board that approved a beef processing plant in north Mississippi says the state won't put more money into the project.
Patrick Sullivan, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, said members of the Land, Water and Timber Resources Board visited the plant Wednesday and "are trying to do anything we can to help, outside of providing capital or additional money."
The board was created in 2000 to enhance Mississippi's agricultural industry.
Sullivan said board members visited the plant Wednesday and "are trying to do anything we can to help, outside of providing capital or additional money."
Sullivan said plant owner Richard Hall Jr. had asked for more money in the past but was denied. Sullivan said the board intended from the beginning that the $43.3 million provided by the state was for construction not operational costs.
The plant is located off U.S. 51 in Oakland in Yalobusha County.
Hall, the president of Mississippi Beef Processors LLC, said in a statement Wednesday that mechanical problems forced the plant to halt operations on Nov. 17. He said the closing is temporary.
The plant had been operating for three months when company representatives notified its 400 employees that they were out of work.
While some people speculated that the limited number of cull cattle available in the area for processing led to financial difficulties, Hall said the plant "simply cannot process the number of cattle that we need to process until the rendering plant is fully operational."
Greg Gibson, a spokesman for Mississippi Farm Bureau, said studies based on the number of cull cattle within the plant's 500-mile service area reveal there are plenty of cattle to support the operation.
Gibson said "they're just having mechanical problems."
Hall said the plant must have additional revenue to resume operation and is looking to outside investors.
"Several companies have expressed significant interest in investing in the Mississippi Beef Processors if the problems … can be solved and if satisfactory agreements can be reached with the existing senior creditors of the company, primarily Community Bank and the state of Mississippi," Hall said.
Hall would not name the potential investors and blamed the shutdown on the plant's designer and builder.
"The construction management firm that reviewed the design and entire operation and the contractor responsible for the designing and rendering equipment did not fulfill their responsibilities to Mississippi Beef Processors or the state of Mississippi," Hall's statement said.
Hall said inadequate designs on equipment that converts waste material into usable products did not operate at a desired rate and slowed other operations so much that the company was losing money.
Hall did not name the construction firm. He did not return calls to The Associated Press.
Sullivan said the construction manager was The Facility Group, based in Atlanta. Company officials did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2001, a Mississippi State University study estimated the project would cost about $21 million. By the time Mississippi Beef opened its 154,000-square-foot plant in August, costs had ballooned to $43.4 million, said Mick Bullock, spokesman for State Auditor Phil Bryant. Bullock would "neither confirm or deny an investigation" into the tax-funded project.
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