BY KEITH LACEY
It's involved years of government wrangling, patience, frustration and planning, but it's all but certain actual construction to complete Greater Sudbury's one-site hospital will begin by the end of this month.
At the monthly board of directors meeting at Sudbury Regional Hospital Tuesday night, Robert Hofmann, manager of capital projects, told the board the tender to award the construction contract will be announced within days.
"By the end of this week or early next week," said Hofmann.
He expects preliminary construction would actually start within weeks, before the end of February.
Following the board meeting, hospital CEO Vickie Kaminski said the mistakes which resulted in the halting of construction on the one-site project eight years ago have been avoided this time around.
Once the construction contract is awarded, the contractor will apply for financing through a government initiative called the "alternative financing and procurement" process, where financial institutions have committed to provide the money to allow the contractor to finish the one-site hospital, said Kaminski.
Once construction is completed in about three years' time, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has shown every inclination it will then provide the funding to pay the contractor, said Kaminski.
Back in the late 1990s, the hospital's figures to complete the one-site project at the current Laurentian site were significantly higher than the province's estimates.
The province provided only a portion of the funding requested and completion of the project was halted for several years after it was discovered there were massive cost overruns and budget problems within the hospital.
This time around, the hospital and its board have spent more than three years doing detailed analysis using "guaranteed maximum price" economics to provide the government with an exact figure of what kind of funding will be needed to complete construction, said Kaminski.
The ministry has also been involved in the process all along and there's every reason to believe construction will start within days, she said.
"There's been lots of controls all along...we're very excited about the contract being awarded and construction about to begin," she said.
Hofmann told the board committees have been set up within the hospital to ensure readiness for this huge construction project.
All building permits are in place and construction can start as soon as the contract is awarded, he said.
Construction is expected to be completed by the late fall of 2009, he said.
A number of internal moves have to be made inside the Laurentian site to allow for construction.
It's been decided by the board transfers of programs and staff from the Memorial site and St. Joseph's Health Centre won't take place until construction is completed, he said.
Board chair Gisele Chretien said it's been a long wait, but the capital project is finally back on track and everyone in this community should be excited.
