One of the two groups, pre-qualified to bid for the Halifax hospital reconstruction project, is withdrawing.
A spokesman for the Nova Scotia government confirmed on Friday afternoon that EllisDon Infrastructure Healthcare officials had given notice that they intended to withdraw from the tender process.
This leaves Plenarary PCL Health as the only remaining consortium approved by the former liberal government to apply for the large-scale health construction project, which includes more beds and operating rooms and a new cancer center.
A government spokesman said the province would continue with the tender process for the project, which would be modeled on a public-private partnership (P3), and that the offer from Plenarno PCL Health would not be approved automatically.
An EllisDon spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
The news followed a CBC announcement earlier this week that the award, which was due to take place in late spring, was delayed by several months. A government spokesman attributed the decision to “current market conditions”.
Although it is not clear what this means, internal documents obtained from the CBC show that the population estimates used in 2015 to help plan the redevelopment project were preceded by a boom in new residents coming to Nova Scotia in the last two years.
Recommended changes in the project
Updated data from 2021 suggest that the province’s population will reach 1,069,731 by 2031, according to documents. This is a 13.5% increase over the population data used during the planning process. The documents call this a “modest assessment.”
To cope with this change, the documents recommend expanding the reconstruction plans to include four more operating rooms, 144 more inpatient beds and adding a new emergency department to the plans.
Potential delays, coupled with rising inflation, mean the project’s budget will almost certainly jump, concerns expressed earlier this week by opposition politicians.
The reconstruction of the hospital in Halifax is the biggest component of the project for the so-called Queen Elizabeth II Health Science Center New Generation. This work also includes extensions and renovations to Hants Community and Dartmouth Municipal Hospitals and a new outpatient center in Bayers Lake.
In 2018, the new generation project was valued at $ 2 billion. Completion will allow the closure and demolition of the Centennial, Dickson and Victoria buildings, which are part of the Victoria General Hospital complex in Halifax.
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