NATCHEZ — Aldermen Tuesday voted unanimously to apply for an $11.2 million grant to build a multi-use docking facility on the Mississippi River.

The Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant, if secured, requires local government to raise a 20 percent funding match.

In the case of Natchez’s funding request, the city would have to provide approximately $2.8 million to match the $11.2 million provided by BUILD.

Community Development Director James Johnston said he did not expect Natchez city government to provide all $2.8 million, however, and only requested the city pledge to allotting $500,000 to the project.

The rest of the funds — $2.3 million — would be raised through private donors and state funding.

“There is so much potential down there,” Mayor Darryl Grennell said.  “It is totally under-utilized.”

Johnston said the project would take advantage of increasing traffic on the river. The number of riverboats expected to stop in Natchez this year is 114, he said, up from 83 in 2017.

“These numbers are only expected to increase as new vessels come online,” Johnston said.

The location of any proposed dock was not specified in discussion but previous discussions of building such a dock have mentioned either Silver Street at Natchez Under-the-Hill or Roth Hill Road near where the Magnolia Bluffs Casino is located.

BUILD announced last month that it has $1.5 billion available in funding.

Johnston said the funds are available on a “competitive basis for projects that will have a significant local and or regional impact” from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The deadline for applications is July 19.

The aldermen voted unanimously Tuesday to allow Johnston to work with Volkert Engineering to submit the application.

If the funds are not secured, Grennell said the city would not seek to build the facility.

Though he said the city would greatly benefit from the project, Grennell said there simply would be no other way to build the facility at this time.

“We just wouldn’t have the funds,” Grennell said.