The provincial lockdown isn’t stopping work on the new power plant at the Wallaceburg site of the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
CEO Lori Marshall says construction is coming along quite nicely on the $7.3 million project.
“Given that we’re in our current stage of emergency and stay at home order, there have been allowances made for essential construction like health care facilities, so I’m really pleased to share that there is no impact to our progress with the Wallaceburg site.”
Ground was broken on the power plant back in October. Marshall says about 75% of the waterline work for the new facility has been finished, and crews continue to work on storm and sanitary lines, as well as other infrastructure needs.
“It’s probably going to take us most of this calendar year to complete that project,” Marshall explains. “We continue to work with the Ministry, going back and forth on submissions on what we hope will be next stages, because we’ve always said the power plant is really phase one of all of this.”
Future plans for the Wallaceburg site, which are currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Health, include maintaining a 24-hour emergency department, five inpatient beds, expanded ambulatory care, diagnostic imaging, and lab services, among other things.