Eurobodalla Regional Hospital construction update, 29-1-25, Bay Post

Member for Bega Michael Holland provides an update on the Eurobodalla Regional Hospital construction as the first concrete slab is poured

Transcript

00:00Yeah, everything's really looking good. I mean, this site was determined in, well announced in

00:06December 2020. So the first works actually started June last year. So look at the amount of progress

00:12that's been done since June 2024. The last time I was here was December last year and I think I

00:20was over there somewhere. I don't think there was any concrete. None of these structures here at all.

00:28So, I mean, it's good to be on this, which was just finalized, finished last week. Bit sorry I

00:34wasn't here with my stick to put, you know, my heart and MH loves it, loves LS for posterity.

00:41But yeah, so this is, this is the first of, I think what we're talking about, 20 slabs?

00:4824 slabs. 24 slabs. And quite significant for me in my former incarnation as the obstetrician

00:57and gynecologist. And that is, if I hadn't retired, I probably would have been working here

01:01still in 2027 with the new maternity unit. But more significantly, and I think the perspective

01:07here is actually that this, this site, this spot we're sitting on, standing on, is going to be the

01:13first dedicated pediatric unit in the Yerba della. Now that's historic. That's a real milestone.

01:20So we've got these milestones. In other words, this is on track. It's progressing. We've got

01:27milestones coming. This slab laying work's going to start in the next few months on the roundabout

01:32on the highway, which is expected to be completed by late 2025. The reality of the bypass is that

01:42the preferred route has been determined. We know which way it's going to come through.

01:46But north of here, a bypass has to be built at Milk Nala Dalla. And as far as workforce and

01:52resources and funding, there are limitations before progressing to bypasses at the same time.

02:00The bypass was never a prerequisite for building this hospital. Ambulance services and patient

02:08transport have navigated the Princess Highway between Batemans Bay and Moorooya for the past

02:1450 years. And ambulance services have navigated traffic, they've navigated natural

02:23disasters such as flood and fire, et cetera, to be able to access this.