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The Saskatchewan government is taking the next step on the long-awaited parkade planned for Regina’s General Hospital.
In a media release Thursday, the government announced it has put out a Request for Qualifications to find a company to build and run the parkade.
According to the government, the successful applicant will design, build, finance, maintain and operate the parkade under a Design-Build-Partial Lease agreement. The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) then will lease 800 stalls from the company.
Staff, patients and family members have been decrying a lack of parking spaces at the hospital for years. There also have been concerns raised about damage to vehicles and the safety of people in the area.
“The parking situation at Regina General Hospital has been a long-time concern and I am very pleased to see this project moving forward,” Health Minister Paul Merriman said in the release. “Staff and visitors deserve the safety and convenience a nearby parkade will provide.”
The parkade is to be built in the northwest corner of the hospital’s existing visitor parking lot. The minimum of 800 stalls in the complex represents a net increase of at least 566 parking stalls.
“The new parkade is a vital addition to Regina General Hospital that will help alleviate on-going parking pressures,” Michelle Mula, the SHA’s acting vice-president of infrastructure information and support, said in the release. “The SHA’s interim parking plan will ensure minimal disruption to parking services during the construction of the parkade.”
Those who are shortlisted in the Request for Qualifications will move on to a Request for Proposals, which is expected to open this spring.
In March of 2020, the provincial government directed the SHA to examine the feasibility of putting a parkade on the hospital’s grounds.
Technical assessments of the site led to a discovery last June of “anomalies” in the ground. Later that month, excavation determined the material was structural debris and old building materials including brick, ceramic, fieldstone, glass and mortar.
