NATCHEZ — Adams County is pursuing a rail improvement grant for the Natchez-Adams County Port as part of an industrial recruitment package.

Thursday the Adams County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution allowing Allen Laird of the Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District to apply for a Developing Infrastructure Program grant.

Natchez Inc. Executive Director Chandler Russ said the DIP grant is administered through the Mississippi Development Authority and would be used to extend the existing rail lines to a tract of land in the port known as Lot 1. The lot is the northernmost tract inside the port’s ring levee.

The grant package would be for a total of $570,000, Russ said.

“We have worked with the MDA and feel confident that the funds will be granted,” he said. “As soon as we finalize our project, the funds will become available.”

What that project is, however, is under wraps.

Earlier this week, Russ announced that a $37 million industrial development prospect had signed a contract to lease a portion of the port. The full details of that project will be announced in April when it is finalized, he said at the time.

The grant application is in connection with that prospect, Russ said.

“This is part of that project that we are still working through, and part of the infrastructure that is needed is the extension of the rail into that piece of property,” he said.

“If the project does not materialize, we will not move forward with the grant funds.”

Natchez Inc. is a public-private economic and industrial recruiting partnership for the Natchez-Adams County area. It replaced the former Economic Development Authority in 2010.