CHARLESTON -- Gov. Mel Carnahan will be the main speaker Friday at a ceremony to mark the start of construction of Missouri's newest prison.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the South East Correctional Center will begin at 2 p.m. at the prison site, 300 feet from Interstate 57 off state Highway 105 in Charleston. The ceremony will be at the Charleston Armory, 105 S. Main, if the weather is inclement.

Area legislators and members of the Joint Committee of Corrections have been invited to attend the event. The ceremony is open to the public.

City Manager David Brewer said the Department of Corrections will conduct the program with support from the city and Mississippi County Industrial Development Authority.

The event marks the beginning of improved economic opportunities for the community and others in the region, he said.

"We're looking forward to getting them in and getting started," said Brewer.

Charleston was one of two communities that successfully bid for one of two state prisons in 1997.

Licking, a town of about 1,400 in south-central Missouri, also was selected.

Work at the Licking site is nearing completion, said John Fougere, a representative for the Department of Corrections,

"That facility is nearing completion and we anticipate it will be ready for occupancy by midyear," Fougere said.

Development of the Licking and Charleston prison sites fell behind early in the planning phases, but the Charleston site, originally scheduled for completion next month, was delayed even further in 1998 when bids came in $12 million more than the $73 million anticipated budget.

The prison design was scaled back, and the state rebid the project with a new estimate for the project of $65.3 million. Bids again came in over budget, and River City Construction of Peoria, Ill., eventually received a $70,933,000 contract to build the 1,596-bed, maximum-security facility for men.

In all, 10 buildings will be built on the 120-acre site just inside Charleston's city limits. Six buildings will be used for housing prisoners, with additional buildings for administrative offices and administrative segregation housing.

The remaining building will house medical and mental health care space, laundry and central food service departments, and academic and vocational classrooms.

The project will take 18 months to complete and should be housing prisoners by fall 2001, Fougere said.

The South East Correctional Center will provide some 445 jobs and a $9.1 million annual payroll, a welcome sight in a town of 5,000 that has an unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent. The prison also is expected to spur growth in service-related industries in Charleston.

Brewer said developers already are upgrading existing housing and planning new housing to attract new residents, and the city is revamping much of its infrastructure in preparation for the prison's opening.

Brewer said city officials also are studying other communities that have opened prisons to ensure the city is adequately prepared in every way for the prison's opening.