Lingle releases $144.5 million for UH Cancer Center, hospital upgrades
HONOLULU—Millions of dollars in State funding has been released for health-related projects in the last week.
Gov. Linda Lingle has released yesterday $140 million to the University of Hawaii for the construction of the new UH Cancer Center. The funds were released as preparations get underway for breaking ground on the new state-of-the-art facility on Thursday, October 28.
The Cancer Center is a research organization affiliated with the UH Manoa campus. The new building will be constructed next to UH Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kakaako, creating opportunities for collaboration and development of the state’s biotech industry.
The six-story building will provide 150,000 square feet of laboratory space, offices and interaction areas for more than 300 research faculty and staff. The new Center will open in early 2013.
In November 2009, Lingle released $28 million to finance the planning and design costs for the center. The total estimated cost to build the new center is $120 million. The $20 million differential between funds released and the project cost is for construction contingency.
Last week, Lingle also released $4.5 million to the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation for improvements to state hospital facilities on Maui and Oahu.
On Maui, $2.5 million will be used to finance the design, construction, and equipment to upgrade the patient monitoring system at Maui Memorial Medical Center. Once the project is completed, Maui Memorial will have an upgraded telemetry system that can be used by staff to monitor and access patient data in a timely and efficient manner, regardless of where the patient is located in the hospital. The current telemetry system is over eight years old and consists of a combination of systems. The project is expected to begin immediately and be completed in August 2011.
On Oahu, $2 million will go toward the design and construction of a new parking lot at Maluhia Hospital, a long-term care and skilled nursing center. The additional parking, which is being made possible by the availability of a remnant parcel of land resulting from the realignment of Keola Road and Kuakini Street, will enable employees to park in the new lot and help free up more visitor stalls. The new parking capacity will also free up parking on nearby streets, particularly Keola Drive, where staff and visitors often park when the main lot is full. The project will be coordinated with the City and County of Honolulu’s project to realign Keola Road.