Nova Scotia’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure has a cost estimate for the QEII redevelopment project, but the minister says he can’t release it to the public.
Lloyd Hines says he may be able to share a cost estimate “probably within the next 90 to 180 days.” The department received the report back in December 2017 from Kasian Architecture.
READ MORE: No price tag yet for Nova Scotia’s redevelopment of the QEII hospital
Kasian was hired in November 2016 to begin detailed planning of where services will be located when the province decommissions the problem-plagued Victoria General and Centennial buildings. The project will include expanding and renovating the Halifax Infirmary site, and construction of a outpatient centre.
The province will release the cost estimates “when we have absorbed the report fully, in terms of any ancillary or additional information that has been requested back and forth,” Hines said.
The report cost $1.9 million.
“The complexity of the QEII move is extensive. Like any important journey, you don’t start out before you have a very good map. And we’re still in the mapping process with Kasian,” Hines said.
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Despite having a copy for nearly six months, the minister in charge of the file has not read it.
“I haven’t seen it, I haven’t looked at the full report but I’ve gotten briefed on it extensively,” Hines said. He told reporters he does plan to read the report, as well as a draft report from Deloitte, which was commissioned to explore financing options for the project.
“Oh yes, I try to. They’re complex.”
WATCH: QEII redevelopment price tag still unknown after two years
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