Special Message
Richmond Hospital
Redevelopment
特別信息: 列治文醫院重建項目
The newly appointed B.C. Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, recently shared her commitment to this project timeline in an interview on Fairchild Radio.
新上任的卑詩省衛生廳長奧祖宜(Josie Osborne)最近接受加拿大中文電台訪問時，提到她將致力按既定時間表推進項目。
English Translation
The Richmond Hospital Redevelopment Project is over budget and will be completed in 2033
Fairchild Radio 2024-11-20 14:10
The report shows that the Richmond Hospital redevelopment project has exceeded the cost by nearly 900 million dollars, and the completion time will be delayed by 2 years to 2033. New BC Health Minister Josie Osborne said that the project is being carried out amid global inflation and supply chain disruptions during the pandemic, but the New Democratic Party (NDP) remains committed to providing necessary medical services to Richmond residents. An MLA of the opposition party in British Columbia criticized the NDP for “acting in a half-hearted or indirect manner”.
According to the BC provincial government’s fall fiscal update, the latest Richmond Hospital construction cost is $1.959 billion, $861 million higher than the original budget while the project completion date has been postponed from 2031 to 2033. The redeveloped Richmond Hospital will add 113 beds, bringing the total beds to 359.
Josie Osborne, Minister of Health of British Columbia, accepted an exclusive interview with our station and stated “We have taken strong action to make sure these health care services and facilities like this new patient tower are there for people, for families, for seniors.” She pointed out that when the Richmond Hospital redevelopment project first started in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of construction materials increased substantially and the supply chain was disrupted. As a result, the total cost of the project has increased, but the government is still committed to completing the project.
In response, Teresa Wat, the BC Conservative MLA for the riding of Bridgeport in Richmond, criticized the NDP for “acting in a half-hearted manner” to avoid affecting the election. Wat said, “So we can see from this incident, the New Democratic Party government has been deceiving the people of the province, allowing them to implement the policies or plans they want without informing the public.” Wat believes that the public should continue to pay attention to the provincial government’s actions, so that they can no longer introduce irresponsible policies.
In terms of other expenditures, the provincial government’s latest expenditures have benefited from federal funding. Some project costs have indeed decreased, but overall they are still expected to be $1.3 billion higher than predicted in February this year. Among them, the Richmond Hospital Redevelopment Project and the Surrey-Langley SkyTrain project has increased by a total of $2 billion.
