Province awards $2.9M contract to build long-awaited Shelburne clinic

Residents in Shelburne, N.S., are a step closer to getting along-awaited medical clinic now that the province has awarded a Lunenburg company with a contract worth $2.88 million to build the facility.

"It's been approximately, I believe, 10 years since we started this," said Penny Smith, warden of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne.

"So to see it come to this point of actually awarding the tender and knowing that this clinic is going to be built and hopefully servicing our residents by next year is pretty exciting."

The municipality said the province awarded the contracttoRikjak Construction Ltd. on July 14.

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The province closed a medical centrenext to the Roseway hospital in the town more than seven years ago soit could undergo renovations. That work was never done, and residents hadbeen fighting for the clinic to expand and reopen.

Instead, the new facility will go up at the samesite. Smith said work is expected to get underway in August.

Construction to begin later than promised

The office of Premier Stephen McNeil released a statement in late April, days before he called a provincial election, saying the tender for the new clinic would go out April 24 and construction was expected to begin in June.

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A spokesperson for the province saidearlier this month that the tender went out on time and closed on June 1.

Brian Taylor said the review period for awarding a tender can vary depending on how complex a project is, and that the Shelburne clinic was still expected to be completed in the fall of 2018.

The municipality saidit's kicking in $450,000 forthe new facility.

The clinic will be staffed by four doctors, three nurse practitioners and a family practice nurse, the premier's office said in April. Thoseeight health-care providers will work together at the Roseway Hospital until the new clinic opens.