LAURINBURG — Economic development in Scotland County is receiving a boost thanks to a recently awarded $400,000 grant from NC Railroad. Mark Ward, director of the Scotland County Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC), says the grant money will be used to prepare a site for market as a rail serve site.
A rail serve site is one that has direct access to rail lines for shipping and receiving purposes. This site will also be pad ready which means it will be available for construction to begin immediately when it is purchased. This means all the soil boring, archaeological, and engineering studies will already be completed. Water, sewer and power will also be accessible.
“There are very few sites in the state that are both pad ready and rail serve sites,” according to Ward. “Rail is seeing a resurgence as a shipping method due to high fuel prices. These factors will give us a big advantage when marketing this property.”
“I’m thankful that the Laurinburg City Council and the Scotland County Commissioners had the forward vision to assist us with the purchase of this land,” he continued. “If not, we couldn’t get the grant which will lead to new industry and jobs for our citizens.”
The property in question is 42 acres of agricultural land at the Scotland County Incubator Park. Site preparation is expected to begin in June, after bids have been taken for the project.