By Justine Kelsie

Notice issued to contractor for Grande Prairie Regional Hospital project

Jul 30, 2018 | 1:11 PM

The Alberta government has issued a Notice of Default to the construction management firm in charge of building the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital. 

Graham Construction has 15 days to submit a plan to the province on how they will get the project on track and meeting contract criteria. If they don’t, they could face termination from the project. 

“This is a very serious step and not something we are doing lightly. We have worked closely with the construction manager to resolve the issues but the bottom line is simply that the hospital is not progressing as it should. Our responsibility is to the people of Grande Prairie and area who deserve a new and modern hospital. They’ve waited a long time for this hospital to be completed and we must take appropriate action to make sure it gets built,” said Minister of Infrastructure Sandra Jansen in a media release. 

The original opening date for the facility was set for 2016 when construction began in 2011. Recently, it was announced that employees of the new building would be let in sometime next year and it would open to patients in 2020. 

“We had an expectation that the hospital would be done by the end of 2018 and, maybe, early into 2019. What we are saying here is that, ultimately, we agreed on a final completion date. Even if we are in the neighbourhood of that, we aren’t confident that it will be done by that time,” said Jansen. 

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The construction firm is also seeking an additional $120-million from the Alberta government after already receiving $510-million in December 2016. The total cost of the project is now at $763-million from an original contract of $319-million.

“We really feel that we have presented a budget that was agreed upon. We feel it is important to stick to the budget. For those reasons, we have taken the steps we have taken,” she said. 

The province is concerned that if they left the project going as it was, it would continue to drag on. 

If Graham Construction is terminated from the project, there would be a halt on the work until the fall when the province could hire another construction management firm.