FERRIDAY, La. &045; After a year’s worth of construction delays, the Ferriday Oil and Seed opening is only a few weeks away.

A tentative grand opening for the soybean extraction plant is set for June 24, but a few more delays are possible, said Teresa Dennis, executive director of the Concordia Economic and Industrial Development District.

&uot;Construction has taken longer than we anticipated,&uot; she said. &uot;They received temporary occupancy in the building in May, and now we are waiting on permanent occupancy.&uot;

Details, including approval from the state fire marshal, have to be in compliance before opening.

Once open, the plant has the potential to employee 18 people to operate extraction equipment.

The facility will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to press 80 to 100 tons of soybeans a day. The results will be used for high-protein animal feed. The plant can also produce biodiesel fuel from the beans.

&uot;We are really looking forward to them getting in and starting to crush soybeans,&uot; Dennis said.

Once the facility opens, it will host an open house for community members.

The plant is located in the Ferriday Industrial Park.

Ferriday Oil and Seed first announced plans to come to the park in the spring of 2004. The original opening date was set for July 2004.