NATCHEZ — The private corrections company building a facility on U.S. 84 will celebrate its official ground breaking Thursday.

Corrections Corporation of America committed in April to building the facility, which will house low- to medium-security federal prisoners.

Soon after, the company began work on the lot near Hobo Forks Road.

At 2 p.m. Thursday, CCA, state and local officials will gather to commemorate the event, CCA spokesman Steve Owen said. Gov. Haley Barbour is scheduled to attend the event.

“We think it’s important, even though we’ve physically begun to do things, to memorialize this partnership with Adams County,” Owen said.

In the recent months, workers have completed the bulk of the necessary excavation work, “which essentially means there’s a flat site out there,” Owen said.

Contractors have also started work on underground mechanical and electrical aspects of the project, he said.

“In the very near future, we’re going to be developing the on-site plant that is needed to produce cell fabrication,” Owen said.

The cells will be constructed, or prefabricated, at the site and then puzzle-pieced together to build the structure, he said.

“It’s a cookie-cutter approach,” Owen said. “Probably in the next month, we will start producing those.”

The city announced this week that it received a $500,000 grant from Delta Regional Authority to go toward running sewer and water lines to the prison.

That money will serve as match-money for a $4 million federal grant to complete the entire project.

The city and county governments worked together to acquire the grants to fund the water and sewer project.

Natchez Water Works will supply sewer services, and the Adams County Water Association will supply water to the prison.

The $105 million prison itself will be built and paid for entirely by CCA.