HYDE-SMITH: USDA RURAL DEVELOPMENT PITCHES IN $99,800 FOR OKHISSA LAKE PROJECT STUDY
Miss. Senator Authored Farm Bill Provision Directing USDA to Transfer Property for Lodge, Conference Center
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today announced the award of a $99,800 grant to complete a feasibility study and business plan for a proposed lodge and conference center at Okhissa Lake in southwest Mississippi.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development grant to the Scenic Rivers Development Alliance will support administrative tasks necessary to facilitate the transfer 150 acres of Homochitto National Forest property for the lodge and conference center development.
“Completing this feasibility study is a key step in the process to get this government property transferred and put to work generating jobs and economic development in the region. There’s still work to be done to make the Okhissa Lake project a reality, but I’m very pleased this piece of the puzzle is falling into place,” Hyde-Smith said.
Hyde-Smith, as a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, authored the 2018 Farm Bill amendment authorizing the land transfer.
In the award notification, USDA Rural Development noted that the proposed project in Franklin County “being in an economically distressed area could have significant impact on job creation and retention not just in the project county, but also in the following surrounding counties: Amite, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson.”
Hyde-Smith, who also serves on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, also noted the award of a $60,000 Rural Business Development Grant to Natchez, Inc. Economic Development for a feasibility study to determine the best economic development and/or healthcare industry uses for former Natchez Community Hospital site, which closed in 2015.
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