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A sum of 20 million rubles ($770,000) will be allocated from Primorye’s budget to hasten the building of the children's center for cancer and blood diseases in Vladivostok, a press statement from the regional administration reported Monday.

The specialized center, which will be located in an ecologically clean area in the city’s suburbs,
will help children with cancer and blood diseases recover from radiation and chemical therapies. The youngest patients receiving rehabilitative treatment will be accompanied by their parents.

The center’s construction, which began in summer of 2003, was initially financed by the city administration from non-budget funds, which were allocated irregularly and in unreliable amounts.

Primorye’s Governor Sergei Darkin has opened bidding among the regional contractors for the construction work, the statement said.

Along with the money allocated from the regional budget, construction of the hospital will be partially financed by the federal budget.

The project, with a cost estimated at $2 million, was initiated in 2001 by Natasha Owen, Russia's honorary consul in Hawaii and president of the Children of Russia Foundation.