NATCHEZ &045; A $2 million grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation is en route to the city’s bank account, ensuring that a large infrastructure project can go forward in 2005.

On Tuesday, the Mississippi Transportation Commission approved payment of the $2 million, a match for $6 million in federal funds to rebuild the drainage system in north Natchez.

&uot;It’s the most important infrastructure change in the city in the last 50 years,&uot; city attorney Walter Brown said, informing the mayor and board of aldermen of the grant approval at their regular meeting Tuesday.

&uot;All the water flowing from Union Street to the west, all that water flows into the Canal Street drain,&uot; Brown said. &uot;The drain has deteriorated to the point of near collapse.&uot;

Brown said sink holes such as occurred recently at the post office on Canal Street and further along the street near the visitors center are indication of the deterioration.

The $6 million in federal funds is from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the Water Development Act. The $2 million in state funds would have expired in June &045; thus the need to get money in hand.

&uot;We asked MDOT to adopt a memorandum of understanding for us to receive the money in this fiscal year,&uot; Brown said. &uot;That ensures we have enough money for the entire project. This was a very unusual procedure on their part.&uot;

Federal funds are part of a bill approved by

Congress last year. &uot;Senator (Thad) Cochran put it there. We knew it would stay,&uot; Brown said. &uot;But they would have said to us, ‘where is the matching money.’ We hope to have the two million in hand by December.&uot;

The project will begin with a preliminary engineering study that could get started in the spring, Brown said. &uot;It will be a complete redoing of the major infrastructure in our city with respect to drainage. It’s extremely important to our city.&uot;

Approval of the project by the Corps of Engineers has passed through regional offices and now is headed to Washington.

&uot;The project cooperation agreement was approved two months ago in Atlanta. Now it will go to the national level, and I’m confident it will be approved,&uot; Brown said.

In other business, aldermen voted to accept administration of a National Institute of Health grant of up to $250,000 that will be in partnership with Cosmic International.

The grant will fund studies to determine how environment may be affecting obesity, such as violence in a neighborhood keeping people from exercising outside.