Karratha Health Campus video flyover

Construction of Karratha’s new health campus is three weeks ahead of schedule and on budget, according to Health Minister Roger Cook.

The $207.15 million campus is due to open in late 2018, three years after construction began.

On a visit to the site last week, Mr Cook said the new facility would provide world-class healthcare to the Pilbara.

“With 139,000 construction hours under the belt, focus has now shifted to the interior of the new $207.15 million campus,” he said.

“By about this time next year we will have finished the construction process and have moved into commissioning.

“The major infrastructure project is having a positive effect on local jobs and businesses with a 76 per cent local workforce and about 135 contractors are on site each day.”

Mr Cook also announced a new 64-slice CT scanner would be housed in the campus.

“The new scanner will be a welcome replacement to the 16-slice scanner installed at Nickol Bay Hospital seven years ago, and will enable complex examinations and procedures to be carried out locally,” he said.

In opposition Labor had claimed the health campus would not get a new CT scanner, a claim the former government rejected on several occasions.

Building contractor Multiplex has highlighted a strong commitment to employment in the Pilbara, claiming more than three-quarters of the workforce was local. But Pilbara MLA Kevin Michel said he held doubts about this figure.

“I don’t believe those numbers and we will look into it,” he said.

“To go in now though and try get more local content will just delay the project, or even blow out the budget.

“This project was already under construction, so to get more contractors onto this site would have been a little hard.”

Mr Michel said he would ensure all future projects in Karratha would have a satisfactory level of local employment.