Expanded health care services will be closer to home for Sault and Algoma residents
TORONTO-Construction of the new Sault Area Hospital is on track to begin in August 2007. Today, the Sault Area Hospital signed a contract with the consortium Hospital Infrastructure Partners (HIP) to build, finance and maintain the new facility.
Hospital Infrastructure Partners Inc. includes Carillion, EllisDon, LPF Infrastructure Fund (the Labourers' Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada) and CIT Financial.
“A tremendous milestone was reached today - a milestone which paves the way for improved access to health care in Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma region,” said David Caplan, Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal. “The final contract is signed demonstrating that the McGuinty Government has delivered on its commitment to the community.”
“Modernizing Ontario's hospital infrastructure is an integral part of improving our health care system,” said George Smitherman, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care. “Our investment in the new radiation treatment satellite will ensure that the more than 100,000 residents of Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma region have closer-tohome access to advanced cancer care.”
“Our government is delivering on the largest public infrastructure project for the Sault and Area in generations,” said David Orazietti, MPP for Sault Ste. Marie. “Today's announcement signals the start of construction on our new state-of-the-art hospital that will enhance patient care, improve our ability to attract and retain medical professionals and provide a significant boost to the local economy.”
HIP has signed a contract with the hospital to build, finance and maintain the facility. At the end of the 30-year maintenance period, HIP will have been paid approximately $898 million for the construction of the facility, building maintenance, lifecycle repair and renewal and project financing. In today's dollars this is equivalent to $408 million.
Total estimated project costs are $988 million, which includes the cost of the contract with Hospital Infrastructure Partners as well as other estimated costs such as new furniture and equipment, lifecycle costs, financing costs, permits, architectural and engineering fees, transactional, and project management fees.
A Value for Money (VFM) report on the project will be posted on Infrastructure Ontario's website within weeks. This third-party VFM assessment identifies the benefits or value derived on this project as compared to a traditional procurement model.
“The new Sault Area Hospital will provide our community with a modern health care environment, which will enhance our ability to operate a hospital where it is excellent for staff to work, physicians to practice and patients to receive care,” said Ron Gagnon, President and CEO of the Sault Area Hospital. “This agreement ensures that the hospital is built to the highest standards in the agreed timeframe for a fixed price.”
“This project is obviously vitally important to our community in many significant ways, not the least of which is the opportunity for our member companies and their local employees to be involved in creating it,” said Rick Thomas, Manager of the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association.
The new Sault Area Hospital will replace the existing facilities at the Plummer Memorial Hospital and the Sault Ste. Marie General Hospital sites and consolidate services in a facility that is 20 per cent larger than the two hospitals combined. The new hospital will have the capacity for 289 beds, will house an emergency department twice its current size and, for the first time will offer radiation therapy in the community.
Once construction is completed, approximately 50 per cent of the medical/surgical beds will be in private rooms. Private rooms reduce infection rates and allow for more privacy between patients and their medical staff.
Infrastructure Ontario will work with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the Sault Area Hospital to build the new hospital, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable. Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on budget.
This project is guided by principles outlined in the Province's Building a Better Tomorrow framework, which ensures public ownership of core assets such as hospitals, schools, and water and wastewater facilities. The Sault Area Hospital project is one of many infrastructure projects being upgraded and modernized under ReNew Ontario, the government's five-year, $30-billion plus public infrastructure investment plan.
Contacts:
Amy Tang
Minister's Office
Public Infrastructure and Renewal
416-325-4048
Mandy Downes
Infrastructure Ontario
416-327-5325
Brady Irwin
Sault Area Hospital
705 -759-3837
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