The Blueskin Bay community has raised enough funds for construction to begin on an $870,000 library complex at Waitati in the next few months, a member of the Blueskin Bay Library Redevelopment Trust says.
Waikouaiti Coast Community Board deputy chairman and member of the trust Alasdair Morrison said the tendering process for construction of the library would probably begin next month, and it was hoped building would start by August.
The project could go ahead despite a $32,870 shortfall in funds, as some of the $870,000 budget was for landscaping and other "extras", the money for which could be raised after construction started, Mr Morrison said.
At last night's Waikouaiti Coast Community Board meeting, Dunedin City Council library services manager Bernie Hawke gave an update on how much had been raised for the project: $500,000 in funding from the council had been approved in the 2012-13 annual plan, and $337,000 had been raised by the community.
The council was making good progress in negotiations for the library to relocate to a stand-alone classroom at Waitati School while the new complex was being built - which was expected to take six to eight months.
It was expected "high-demand" collections would be relocated to the school in August, with the rest of the books going into storage, Mr Hawke said.
Mr Morrison said the trust was "very pleased" the library was actually going to be built and it would add much to the community.
"A lot of people have put a lot of hard work into this project," he said.
