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LANAI CITY, Hawaii (AP) — Construction of an $8 million health center planned for Lanai could be finished by the middle of next year, with plans to open in 2016, its executive director said.
"We are not at the end yet ... but we are moving in the absolutely right direction," Dr. Diana Shaw of the Lanai Community Health Center told the Maui News (http://bit.ly/UqQdEj ).
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie released $500,000 for the construction this week, and the Legislature has approved another $1.75 million in state funding.
Part of the project is also being funded with investors attracted by a federal program that allows individual and corporate investors to get tax credits on their investments. The New Market Tax Credit program is designed to attract capital to low-income communities.
Shaw said the project is helped by brisk construction elsewhere on the island since Oracle Corp. co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison bought most of Lanai's land in June 2012. Some contractors the health center is working with are already on the small, remote island, she said.
The new health center is expected to be five times larger than the current facility. The current facility is in a converted house and serves about 40 percent of Lanai's population of 3,100 residents, according to the governor's office.
The health center is run by a nonprofit that targets people who are uninsured or underinsured.
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Information from: The Maui News, http://www.mauinews.com
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