Eutaw Construction Company already had the dirt contract for the Yokohama tire plant slated to open in West Point in two years. Barring a setback, the company will also build the road that leads to the plant.
Clay County supervisors approved Eutaw as the lowest of four bidders for the access road that will be its own exit off Highway 45 Alternate heading toward the facility. Eutaw’s bid was $19,465,284 — more than $1.5 million below county engineer Bob Calvert’s construction estimate of $20,994,447.
Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said the only hurdle the contractor has to clear is state approval before the bid is officially awarded and Calvert gives the Aberdeen contractor a notice to proceed on constructing Yokohama Boulevard.
The contract has a Dec. 31, 2014, completion date for the road construction, Higgins said.
Funding for the project comes from the Economic Development Highway grant program through the Mississippi Office of State Aid Road Construction. That funding was part of the $70 million legislative incentive package passed by state leaders in April to bring the Yokohama project to Clay County.
Higgins said 22 contractors ordered plans and specification documents for the road construction. Fifteen of them attended a mandatory pre-bid informational session. Four contractors submitted bids. W.G. Yates & Sons Construction had the second lowest bid at $20,146,284. Tanner Construction submitted a bid of $21,688,026. Colom Construction’s bid was $25,996,185.13.
Eutaw’s contract is just for the road work itself. The total estimate for the line item, which includes utility relocation and right-of-way acquisition, is about $26 million, Higgins said.
“When you take what the bid is and you add the engineering to it and you add the utility relocation and the legal and the right-of-way acquisition, we think we’ve hit at the budget or under the budget,” he said. “It means we don’t have to go ask the state for more money.”
YTCM to host job orientation meetings Saturday
Yokohama Tire Company Mississippi will host two recruitment orientation sessions Saturday at the East Mississippi Community College Mayhew campus. The informational meetings start at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and are free to the public. Higgins said those interested in applying will have a chance to do so, but no hirings will take place during the event.
Higgins said YTCM has certain criteria it seeks for its employees and anyone who applies will eventually have to take the ACT WorkKeys assessment, which measures job aptitude. Informational sessions are being held well in advance of the plant’s anticipated opening in October 2015 to give people time to learn what skills will be necessary to achieve a high enough score to be considered for one of 500 openings.
Nathan Gregory covers city and county government for The Dispatch.
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