WASHINGTON — Administrators at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames have remained cautiously optimistic about Congressional approval of $58.8 million needed to finish construction updates.

The Bush administration announced Feb. 7 that it plans to give the center the money it needs to finish construction, and confidence is high that the $58.8 million needed to finish the project will actually be appropriated.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said he will work hard to see that the center gets finished and said he believes the administration shares that sentiment.

“The Bush budget says they want to finish the project,” he said. “So, I assume they will.”

But, since the money isn’t through the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations yet, the directors on the project in Ames said they don’t want to get their hopes up. Past problems getting the needed funding have kept the group from setting a specific timeline for completion.

“Depending on what we get, we’ll do all we can,” said Jim Harp, research program representative for the center. “The less we get, the less we are able to build. We thought we would get this money in last year’s budget, and we didn’t.”

A structure that has yet to be started is a space for animals that are not highly contagious. Another building for highly contagious animals is under construction. The construction is taking place under a protective bubble and can be seen from Interstate 35.

Once finished, Harkin said the center would be a world-class research facility for animal disease.

The final bill for the project would be $178 million.

“Protecting America’s food supply and livestock industries is of vital importance,” Harkin said in a press release. “These state-of-the-art facilities will make Ames a world leader in the detection and treatment of animal diseases. I am hopeful that the president will remain true to his word and fully fund construction to complete the facility this year.”

Harp said any shortfall in funding will further delay completion, which is now estimated for early 2009.

Because the project coordinators cannot lobby for money in Congress, Harp said, the group will continue with whatever it gets.

“We have to be creative about the way we stretch the money we have,” he said. “We are confident, though, that we will get what is in the president’s budget.”