Plans for a Native American museum in Oklahoma City that have been in the offing for nearly 20 years have moved closer to fruition, after the Oklahoma House budget panel voted in favour of submitting its funding application to the full House Appropriations and Budget Committee.

The 210-acre discovery centre, museum and cultural park was first proposed in 1994, but has been beset by delays and mismanagement, with more than US$95m (€69.3m, £57.3m) having been spent on the project already. The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum’s website lists a myriad of partners on the scheme – including at least four architectural firms – and states it will open in 2017.

The most recent development – a plan to utilise US$40m (€29.2m, £24.1m) from the state's Unclaimed Property Fund to pay for the museum’s completion – was passed 8-2 by the House budget panel, despite concerns that the project won’t benefit taxpayers across the state.

Should this plan win approval, the funding would be matched through pledges from Oklahoma City, each of the state's 39 tribes, and corporate and individual donors, to raise the US$80m (€58.4m, £48.2m) the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority believes it needs to complete the project.

The museum website outlines plans for a number of permanent and touring exhibition gallery’s, performance spaces, a discovery centre, museum cafe and an 85-acre cultural park running along the Oklahoma River.

The date for the full House Appropriations and Budget Committee vote on the bill – which has already been passed by the State senate – is yet to be confirmed.