The mayor of Morris is encouraged by the progress being made on the community's industrial park project.

Scott Crick says they had hoped to start construction this year, however, the project will go to tender shortly and they hope to begin moving ground in 2021 and preparing lots to be sold.

Scott CrickCrick says the project has drawn some interest already.

"It's been a little difficult to market especially for a lot of people looking for industrial land. They are often built ready or built ready within 3 to 6 months, so it's a little bit hard to market it. However, that being said, we've already had unsolicited interest expressed in over 25 per cent of the land in the park and we actually have just recently signed a contract to already sell 10 per cent of the land there. So we're off to a great start."

Crick says the goal of their industrial park project has been to secure some long term revenue streams for the community by making an investment in the community. The cost of phase 1 of the project which includes the land purchase and development of the lots will likely cost close to $1.5 million, according to the mayor.

"We're very excited about it, but unfortunately the construction didn't go ahead as planned in 2020, but will be going out to tender shortly. We should be putting shovels in the ground in 2021 and getting those lots ready to be sold."