NATCHEZ — Building a $5.1 million levee on the former Belwood Country Club property is an essential part of the puzzle that will bring KiOR to Natchez, local officials said.

KiOR, a biofuels company, announced Monday it would be building a plant in Natchez that would create 300 direct and indirect jobs in the area, both at the facility and in the local timber and transport industries. Following KiOR’s announcement, the Adams County Board of Supervisors announced, by way of a news release from Natchez Inc., that it had voted to build a levee on the property as part of the county’s industrial recruitment package. Supervisors President Darryl Grennell said the initial decision to build the levee was made in January.

“The levee itself is the critical and necessary piece of infrastructure that has to happen in order for KiOR to take place at the Belwood site, “Natchez Inc. Director Chandler Russ said. “It is the piece of the puzzle that is vital from a local perspective to put into place and is offered to them as an incentive.”

The sites that Natchez-Adams County competed against in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama did not require a levee construction to take place, Russ said.

“It is really a piece of the puzzle to put in order to make the site competitive versus other sites,” he said.

Grennell said the idea to build a levee on the Belwood site, which floods during high water, has been floating for the last 14 years.

“There was always an understanding that there was going to be some kind of levee built on the property or the elevation on the property would be increased,” Grennell said. “We did not want to go ahead and build a levee without having a project. We always said we would wait until there was a serious industrial project that wanted to be located on that property.”

Supervisors’ Vice President Mike Lazarus said such local investments in industrial property are now standard.

“We are getting commitments from this company that they are coming, and we are gong to take their tax revenue and pay for this levee — that is a gamble I am willing to take,” Lazarus said.

“The way times are now, everybody wants the industry in their county or city — they are being courted. There are incentive packages being put together every day.”

Grennell said a bond through the Mississippi Development Authority would likely finance the levee, and that the board would seek for KiOR to sign a memorandum of understanding stating that the company would in return make a $200 million investment in the area.

A KiOR spokesperson said levee construction and a financial pledge was not a part of KiOR’s commitment deal to come to the area, but the company did not want to comment about ongoing legal negotiations. The spokesman did say, however, that the company was comfortable with saying it would make a $200 million investment in the area.

Russ said the county is also considering making water and sewer upgrades to the site, but the matter is still up for discussion.