Inside the new Perth Children's Hospital.

Hospital defects mostly fixed: Nahan

Tuesday, 10 January, 2017 - 11:19

Treasurer Mike Nahan says most of the 10,000 defects at the new Perth Children’s Hospital revealed in public documents have been fixed, but he’s hesitant to pinpoint when the already delayed facility will finally open its doors.

Mike Nahan told reporters this morning that most of the 10,000 defects in the hospital as of March last year, which were highlighted in a 1,000-page document obtained by Labor through the Freedom of Information Act, were minor and had since been fixed.

“Many of those defects were the wrong wall sockets or defects in the paint and most of those have been addressed,” Dr Nahan said.

However, the latest major issue to plague the delayed facility - lead-contaminated water - is still yet to be resolved, and while the government is confident that the issue will be fixed soon, Dr Nahan refused to put a date on when the hospital will open.

“We are not committing to a time until we’re sure that all the issues will be fixed,” he said.

“The major issue is the water and we’re testing it. Until we have 12 days of clear water we’re not going to set a time.

“We’ve diagnosed the problem, but we need 12 free days of a pattern of way below the threshold of lead before we approve it. Until we get to that stage we’re not going to make any hypothesis.”

Health Minister John Day said water quality was the primary responsibility of head contractor John Holland and its subcontractors.

“This is still a building project; until there is handover to the state government, it is the responsibility of John Holland to get it right,” he said.

Aside from the lead-contaminated water, the project has been struck by two other major issues – the discovery of asbestos in roof panels and the need to replace hundreds of doors.

Dr Nahan said once completion of the hospital had been reached and the facility handed over to the state, the government would vigorously pursue liquidated damages with John Holland over the numerous delays and issues that have plagued the project.

He also told 6PR Radio this morning that the government would have been worse off if it had sacked John Holland from the job.

"You don't want to push somebody off a site and lose the ability to make sure they are responsible for the cost of the delays," Dr Nahan said.

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