Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd. (YRC) has picked West Point, Miss. as the site for a proposed $300 million truck and bus tire plant the company plans to build over the next two years.
The plan got the okay from the Mississippi state legislature Friday, who approved a $130-million incentive package in a special session.
Lawmakers approved a total bond package of $130 million, according to The Clarion Ledger. The package calls for $70 million for the company’s first phase of construction, with $60 million authorized for expansions. The company asked the state to purchase land for $9.5 million, spend $48 million on infrastructure, and build a training center for $11.75 million. It also wants a 25-year exemption on income taxes.
State officials told lawmakers the 20-year payback to the state would be $1.1 billion, the newspaper reported.
Yokohama has slotted a 500-acre site near the east central Mississippi town as the proposed site for the plant, which the company says would be capable of producing 1 million tires a year in the project’s first phase, and up to 4 million tires “in accordance with future business growth.”
Site work is expected to begin by September, with production to begin in October 2015.
