Box Hill Hospital car park delayed yet again

News Release - 29th October 2002

The long awaited Box Hill hospital car park has suffered a further setback, with the State Government revealing that after a lengthy tender program run by the Government under its "Partnerships Victoria" policy, none of the bids received met the specifications.

This further delay in the project was disclosed in the Government's Financial Report 2001-02 published yesterday [Monday, 28th October].

The Report reveals the Government has not worked out what to do next following the failure of the tender, saying only "The next step in the process is currently under consideration". (Report, p.193)

This latest delay comes after long delays while the project waited for o the eastern hospital network restructuring to be completed in July 2000 and for the new network board to approve the proposal, o the approval of the Treasurer, Mr Brumby, for the project to go ahead, and then o for the tender process to be commenced and the various steps in the tender process to be gone through.

The project was submitted to the Victorian Treasury for the Treasurer's approval in early 2001. However, it was not until July 2001 that the project was listed on the Partnerships Victoria program, the Bracks Government's program for the provision of public infrastructure by the private sector.

A year then passed while expressions of interest were sought and bidders short-listed, before the project brief for the car park was issued to short-listed bidders on 3 July 2002. Bids were received on 23 September 2002 and the Government then discovered that none of the bids conformed to the specifications.

This latest delay in constructing the car park is a blow for nurses and other staff working at the hospital, for patients and visitors, and for nearby residents suffering from parking pressures and congestion on nearby streets.

The Member for Box Hill, Robert Clark, said that the continual delays were a further example of the incompetence and "do-nothing" record of the Bracks Government.

"After almost three years of delays, the community is now being forced to wait even longer for this carpark due to the Bracks Government's inability to make decisions and get things done.

"The Government's failure to attract any bids which meet the tender specifications confirms the view that trying to bring this project under Partnerships Victoria has been a complete waste of time.

"The interests of the Box Hill community have been sacrificed to the Government's political agenda to push projects into the Partnerships Victoria program to try to show the policy is working.

"Projects like hospital car parks are not well suited to the Partnerships Victoria program, as the complex processes required by the program simply add unnecessary expense and delay, as the Box Hill community have now seen to our cost.

"If the Government had got on with the job when they received this proposal in early 2001, the Box Hill Hospital car park could have been finished and open by now."