LAKE VILLAGE -- With a few pen strokes Friday, southeast Arkansas is now positioned for an increase of hundreds of jobs within the next two years.
Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District officials and representatives of MD Power and ATM Gloves signed agreements Friday that will bring a joint venture of the companies online with the Southeast Arkansas and Northeast Louisiana Multimodal Freight Corridor, a 90-mile jaunt from McGehee to Tallulah, La.
"The railroad is the epicenter for all of this other coming together," said Shane Knight, deputy director of the SEAEDD. "If it were not for the U.S. Department of Transportation, EDA [U.S. Economic Development Administration], Delta Regional Authority, ... if we were not rehabbing the railroad, we would not be having this opportunity today."
The railroad was rehabilitated in 2013, Knight said. Both MD Power and ATM Gloves will set up shops in Lake Village.
The local officials and businesspersons staged a ribbon cutting ceremony after Chicot County leased 40 acres of its soon-to-be former landfill site to Florida-based MD Power, which specializes in converting solid waste into energy.
The moment was enough to make both Chicot County Judge Mack Ball and SEAEDD deputy director Shane Knight emotional during their closing comments.
"It's an exciting day. It's going to change southeast Arkansas," Ball said. "It's already changed because we're getting a glove factory from it already. That's not just coming together. It's coming because of MD Power, and we're going to have more of that because they create these carbon footprints some of these companies now need credit for. They can do that with these. This can expand into who knows what."
MD Power is expected to come online within the next 18 to 24 months, Knight said. It is possible Vietnam-based ATM Gloves could complete its facility before MD Power is online, he added.
"They will be close to being simultaneous because they will use the electricity generated by MD Power," Knight said.
ATM Gloves manufactures personal protective equipment and latex gloves for the medical industry. It is a division of the Phu Duc Huy Corp., whose founder Kiem Tran was on hand for the ceremony.
More than 200 jobs will be created with the arrival of ATM Gloves, with an additional 40-50 jobs provided by MD Power, according to Knight.
"The joint venture has been taking place for more than two years now," said Dave Nguyen, senior advisor to the two companies. "Originally, we tried to work with the state of Alabama. After a year-and-a-half, we believed southeast Arkansas would be a great option due to Mr. Shane Knight. He's a great man. With Mark Boswell [of MD Power] bringing the three of us together, we had a conversation."
That conversation fueled further talks leading to Friday's development.
"The reason we want to do medical glove manufacturing in Arkansas is because we want to tap into the energy-producing waste management plan, bringing the energy to power the medical examination glove factory," Nguyen said.
Chicot County is closing its landfill on North U.S. 65 because it is full, but it is not moving to a new location, local officials say.
"The waste will stay buried in accordance to Arkansas Reg[ulation] 22," Knight said. "What we're looking at long-term are some EPA grants in the future to reclamate these types of properties."
Dave Nguyen (right), senior advisor to MD Power and ATM Gloves, speaks after a contract is signed between representatives of ATM and the Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District on Friday, June 10, 2022, at the Chicot County Courthouse in Lake Village. Pictured in foreground, clockwise from bottom: Mark Boswell of MD Power; Shane Knight of the SEAEDD; Kiem Tran, founder of ATM Gloves; and Nguyen. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)