But as things stand today the outpatients building is still a work in progress and the inpatients building has barely progressed at all — although extensive groundworks are being done, there is little construction heading skywards at this point in time.
Inertia would be too harsh a word to use to describe the state of a vital healthcare project which all in the South are eagerly awaiting — people are obviously working hard behind the scenes to make the new hospital a reality.
But for those from Otago and Southland who need cardiac care, urology care, opthalmological care or trauma care today, and who find themselves in the cramped, crumbling current hospital, the many and varied delays and excuses which have befallen this project will be inadequate.
They want, and deserve, the top-class care they will receive at Dunedin hospital to be delivered in equally top-notch surroundings.
They will have to wait a while longer but at least yesterday came news that an end to their wait is in sight.
The government has, finally, signed a construction contract with CPB Contracters Limited to build the inpatient building — the largest and most crucially needed of the two structures which will make up the new complex.
The announcement is somewhat belated. It has been apparent for months, if not years, that CPB — which is doing much of the groundwork for the building — would be the only conceivable company which could bid for, and complete, the work.
Labour made a valid point yesterday when arguing that much of the foundation for this deal was put in place under its watch and that the build could conceivably have been signed off on much sooner.
This was all the more so given the budgetary travails that have befallen the hospital build — many of which predate the current government.
The multi-millions of taxpayer dollars going into the hospital have steadily risen as the decade has progressed, and it has now settled — the government adamantly says — at $1.88 billion.
No doubt much of the delay in signing the construction contract has been due to the need to find a mechanism whereby CPB can complete the build within the allotted budget.
One of the many reasons why the cost of the new hospital spiralled ever upwards was the effects of inflation — and in particular of inflation on the cost of building products.
Even though inflation is now back to within the mandated range, it remains an economic factor that contractor and contractee will have to manage.
Health Minister Simeon Brown was bullish yesterday about the prospect of the new hospital being delivered on time and on budget, citing his recent appointment of a Crown manager to oversee the project as evidence that spending will be managed with due rigour.
That remains to be seen, but it is to be hoped that added oversight, let alone the signing of this contract, brings some much needed urgency to proceedings.
The presence of Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds and Southland MP Joseph Mooney at yesterday’s event was not mere symbolism. This is a hospital for the greater South, not just Dunedin, and people from Invercargill, Queenstown, Wanaka and Oamaru and all points in between are as invested in its completion and success as are the folk of Dunedin.
Mr Brown claimed yesterday that southerners would see a building taking shape on the site next year. Here’s hoping he is right, because progress is not before time.
