PHOTO
The $11.6 million the Government paid to buy the former Cadbury factory site for the Dunedin Hospital rebuild was a reasonable one, Health Minister David Clark believes.
"I think it is a fair price, that's my understanding,'' Dr Clark said last night.
"It's really good to have that part of the site confirmed and handed over now.''
The Crown this week became the official owner of the prime CBD land.
"It was a commercial negotiation but it turns out to be a very small part of the overall cost of building a hospital,'' Dr Clark said.
"Having the broader central city site gives us plenty of options depending on the challenges we might face in geotechnical work or in terms of what the best layout is.''
The $1.4 billion hospital project will be built both on the former factory site, its car park, and also on the block to the north of Cadbury's - now home to a student hostel and a range of businesses.
The Government is still negotiating the purchase of that land.
That process is at arm's length from the minister, but Dr Clark said he believed indications were positive.
Dr Clark was confident construction work would begin on the hospital before the next election, a pledge he made at the announcement of the new hospital's central city location.