One of Mississippi’s top economic developers said Monday the state is not promoting one site over another as the possible future location of a Kia Motors Corp. plant.

Gray Swoope, chief operating officer for the Mississippi Development Authority, said it is up to the company to decide where to locate its first U.S. plant, and he believes the Lauderdale County site at Kewanee remains an attractive choice for the Korean automaker.

“We continue to push Mississippi and all the sites that meet their criteria,” Swoope said.

Meridian’s site was touted last year by the automaker as the top choice for its plant, but the company backed off, saying Meridian’s population was smaller than company officials thought. A site near LaGrange, Ga., has emerged as the front-runner in the battle to land the plant, according to recent published reports, but Mississippi continues to woo the company.

Swoope would not comment on whether a site in Lowndes County is among the locations being pitched by the state.

An article released Monday in Automotive News, a Detroit-based trade publication, reported that the Gulf Opportunity Zone legislation, which was signed into law in 2005, would push the state’s incentive package near the $1 billion mark. The article also showed a detailed breakdown of how the money would be broken down.

The information was attributed to the Columbus-Lowndes County Development Link.

Swoope said that while Mississippi is in a position to offer more incentives because of Hurricane Katrina, the state has not publicly released those numbers.

“Any publication of those numbers would be speculation,” Swoope said. “And, what would be available in Lowndes County would be available in Lauderdale County. As far as incentives, the state will never be in the position to offer more incentives at one site than at another site.”

Joe Higgins Jr., CEO of the Columbus-Lowndes County Development Link, said he believes he has the best site for the Kia plant because the area has a larger labor pool to pull from, there would be smaller development cost than at the Kewanee site and the site would be in close proximity to Mississippi State University and the Alabama state line.

“We probably do offer Mississippi’s best bet,” Higgins said. “But we get paid to think that, and other communities are paid to think that their sites are the best.”

Higgins said Lowndes County’s economic development entity is not trying to undermine Lauderdale County’s push to lure the automaker. He said the county obtained its site in January, and that is when they began to go after Kia.

“Mississippi can afford and support one more automotive plant, maybe two, and you’re competing against towns in other states as well as towns in your own state, but that’s reality,” Higgins said.

Wade Jones, president of the East Mississippi Business Development Corp., reasserted his position on Monday that the Kewanee site is the premiere automotive site in East Mississippi.

“We have dual rail access, we will have three interstates, the site itself is conducive to a million- to 2 million-square-foot facility and we have a sufficient, documented workforce,” Jones said. “We also have proximity to existing automotive suppliers, six community colleges and three universities to pull from.”

But essentially, Jones said, despite incentives and workforce studies, it is up to the company to decide where to locate its business.

An announcement about Kia’s plans is expected before the end of the month.