University of Hawai'i campuses are receiving $60 million for building repairs, maintenance and upgrades, with most of the money allocated for the flagship Manoa campus.

The money, released by Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday, was short of the $90 million originally requested by the statewide university system. While it will help with the system's annual repair and maintenance requirements, it's not expected to affect the university's growing repair and maintenance backlog, UH officials said yesterday.

The 10-campus system has an estimated $350 million backlog of repairs and maintenance. That's on top of UH's annual maintenance needs.

"Our annual capital renewal requires about $70 million just to remain current," said Brian Minaai, associate vice president for capital improvements.

"This certainly helps toward our existing facility requirements for this year," he said.

The work across campuses includes mechanical, electrical, reroofing, exterior and interior repairs, upgrades and maintenance.

Most of the money — $41.7 million — will go toward the planning, design and construction of improvements at UH-Manoa. About $4.1 million will go to renovations at UH-Hilo. Another $12.2 million goes to work at the UH community colleges and UH-West O'ahu.

Another $1.5 million will pay for health and safety projects at three sites.

Construction on all projects is expected to start no later than June 2009.

The single biggest project at the UH-Manoa campus is about $11.2 million for work to Edmondson Hall, damaged by fire and water in October 2007, said David Hafner, assistant vice chancellor for campus services.

In December, the university moved about 18 faculty members and hundreds of students from the four-story building for health and safety reasons.

The money will cover interior and exterior renovations, reroofing and an upgrade of the hall's electrical system.

For at least 12 years before the fire, faculty members had complained about Edmondson's aging electrical system.

Manoa officials plan to spend about $3.6 million on eight reroofing projects. Hafner said reroofing is one of UH-Manoa's top repair priorities.

"The general emphasis for campus renewal is to protect the existing facilities," Hafner said.

"The problem is, if a building gets water damage, no amount of repair and maintenance can save it," he said.

Manoa officials also plan to spend about $9.2 million to replace six air-conditioning systems on campus, Hafner said.

"That's where we will get our big energy savings, when we change or upgrade our air conditioning," he said.