One of two groups prequalified to bid for the Halifax nursing remodeling project is retiring.
A Nova Scotia government spokesman confirmed on Friday afternoon that EllisDon Infrastructure Healthcare officials had warned that they intended to withdraw from the bidding process.
This leaves the PCL Health Plenary as the only consortium left approved by the former Liberal government to tender for the massive health care construction project that includes more beds and operating rooms and a new cancer center.
The government spokesman said the province will continue with the bidding process for the project to be built with the public-private partnership model (P3), and that the offer of the Plenary PCL Health will not be automatically approved.
An EllisDon spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
The news follows the news that CBC reported earlier this week that the tender award, which was to take place in late spring, is delayed by several months. A government spokesman attributed the decision to “current market conditions”.
While it’s unclear what that means, internal documents obtained by CBC show that population projections used in 2015 to help plan the redevelopment project have been surpassed by the rise of new residents arriving in Nova Scotia in the past. last two years.
Recommended changes to the project
Updated data from 2021 suggest that the province’s population will reach 1,069,731 in 2031, according to documents. This represents an increase of 13.5% over the population figures used during the planning process. Documents call this a “modest estimate.”
To address this change, the documents recommend expanding redevelopment plans to include four more operating rooms, 144 more hospital beds and adding a new emergency service to the plans.
Possible delays, along with rising inflation, make the project budget sure to rise, a concern expressed earlier this week by opposition politicians.
The redevelopment of Halifax Nursing is the largest component of the so-called next-generation project of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center. This work also includes extensions and renovations at Hants Community and Dartmouth General Hospitals and a new outpatient center at Bayers Lake.
In 2018, it was estimated that the next-generation project would cost $ 2 billion. Completion of the work will close and demolish the Centennial, Dickson and Victoria buildings that are part of the Victoria General Hospital complex in Halifax.