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(BIVN) – Hawai‘i will receive $23.5 million to improve Kawaihae Harbor, U.S Senator Brian Schatz (D, Hawaiʻi) announced on Tuesday.
According to Senator Schatz, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee on Transportation, the funding will be used to widen the highway adjacent to the port, pave 10 acres in the cargo yard, build a new 80-foot mast lighting to replace lower lighting equipment, and install conduit and raised transformer pads for expanded reefer plug-ins. The federal money will also be used to relocate an office building and a maintenance shed.
“As West Hawai‘i continues to grow, its port is critical to keeping goods flowing and its local economy moving,” said Senator Schatz in a news release. “This new funding will help improve Kawaihae Harbor so that residents can continue to get the food and supplies they need, while lowering shipping costs for everyone.”
The funding comes from the Port Infrastructure Development Program, and “follows Schatz-authored legislation signed into law last year that made it easier for Hawai‘i to compete for grant funding through this program,” Schatz’s office says.
