Builder suggests new RAH completion dates but Govt yet to accept them

THERE is still no date set for the opening of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital after the State Government refused to accept the builder’s latest target of December 15 for commercial acceptance.

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THERE is still no date set for the opening of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, after the State Government refused to accept the builder’s latest target of December 15 for commercial acceptance.

The State Government and hospital operator SA Health Partnership are conducting their own independent reviews into builder HYLC’s latest timeline.

These reviews will take at least five weeks to complete and be analysed.

After repeatedly missing targets for technical completion, the builder now says it is aiming for September 16, which will be followed by 90 days of testing before possible commercial acceptance by the Government on December 15.

This is when it would start paying SA Health Partnership $1 million a day for 30 years under the contract to build and operate the hospital.

A parliamentary committee was told the builder had asked for five extensions so far this year and the consortium had been issued with three default notices and threats to terminate the contract.

However, termination would see taxpayers hit with a bill for $2.5 billion.

SA Health chief executive David Swan told the committee the government would “not pay a cent” before commercial acceptance.

“The key issue for us is for SAHP to provide a realistic date for completion to give our staff and the public clarity,” he said.

“No decision will be made about the hospital move until we have confidence in the time line. We just want a reliable date.”

Mr Swan said issues including Christmas holidays and staff training had to be considered in any move so he would not speculate on when the hospital would likely take patients.

He said the State Government was now taking legal advice “to ensure the state receives adequate compensation for the delay” but would not go into financial details.

Until now, the only penalty for the delay has been SA Health Partnership missing out on the $1 million a day payments that were originally supposed to start last April.

CFMEU construction union secretary Aaron Cartledge told the committee problems on site were partly due to differences in the HYLC consortium’s two partner firms, saying “Hansen Yuncken sent their A grade people, Leighton Contractors sent their B team.”

The committee also heard:

29 BANKS and six major shareholders are involved in the financing but details of their rate of return on investment are commercial-in-confidence;

THE CFMEU repeatedly warned of the delays which eventually occurred, despite some contractors working 12 hour days and two weeks straight which raised safety concerns on a project where two men died;

MANPOWER shortages saw labour recruited from interstate and there were about 150 work visa holders on the project;

RADIOACTIVE medical waste will be sent to Germany and also stored in Adelaide;

THE 800-bed hospital will open with about 250 beds operational then have incremental increases but there is no official forecast on how many beds will be commissioned in its early stages; and

THE building’s roof leaked during storms last month and has suffered minor vandalism which the consortium dismissed as “a nuisance”.