Gov. Haley Barbour confirmed at the Mississippi Economic Council’s Hobnob this morning that he will call lawmakers to Jackson for a special session late next week to deal with an economic development project in the Delta. The project, Barbour said, is a $300 million advanced manufacturing deal that will crete 500 jobs. He didn’t offer any other details.
Obviously, the first thing that leaped to Magnolia Marketplace’s mind was GreenTech, the Chinese start-up that wants to build hybrid cars in Tunica. The job count or the cost Barbour announced doesn’t match, though. GreenTech’s first phase will cost $1 billion, according to the company, and create 1,500 jobs.
Speculation after Barbour’s announcement centered around some sort of steel manufacturing facility. Really, without somebody coming out and saying it, it will be hard to tell exactly what Barbour has up his sleeve. But Magnolia Marketplace is sure going to try to find out.
Updated at 1:02 p.m. : Just wrapped up a conversation with a source who requested anonymity, and who said that all signs point toward an automotive-related project in Tunica, but not GreenTech. Rather, the source said, an auto parts manufacturer is planning to set up shop. There were no details available as to the name of the company or if it was affiliated with either of the state’s current automotive manufacturers, Nissan or Toyota.
Magnolia Marketplace has had a hard time getting anybody in state government to acknowledge the existence of GreenTech Automotive, the hybrid car manufacturer that has plans to build a facility in Tunica. Getting a comment on the record, to this point, has been impossible.
That trend continued this afternoon. There have been whispers the past few days that there was a special session in the works whose call would include GreenTech. Dan Turner, spokesman for Gov. Haley Barbour, said he had heard of some “discussions” regarding a special session but would not confirm or deny whether the agenda, which Barbour would control, would include GreenTech. For that matter, Turner did not confirm or deny there would even be a special session.
“There’s just not much I can tell you,” he said.
So that’s where we are. Magnolia Marketplace will be at the Mississippi Economic Council’s annual Hobnob tomorrow. Barbour is scheduled to speak. We’ll ask him about it then.
I’ll have a pretty in-depth look at GreenTech Automotive’s CEO Charles Wang’s plans to build a multi-billion dollar hybrid vehicle manufacturing facility in Tunica in next week’s MBJ.
The strangest thing about Tuesday’s event was the apparent lack of a strong marketing push in advance of it. There were several media outlets across Mississippi — Magnolia Marketplace included — that had no idea the deal was going down when it did. That coupled with the absence of some high-profile politicians and economic development leaders have a lot of folks asking a lot of questions about the odds of the project ever getting off the ground. That’s covered in the story.
It’s probably safe to say this isn’t the last we’ve heard from GreenTech. So stay tuned.
It also looks like the rain is going to last a little longer than it needs to, at least long enough to make rather unpleasant the drive Magnolia Marketplace and the Official Fiance of Magnolia Marketplace are about to make up I-55 for the football frivolity in Oxford.
Have a good weekend.