Wagga Base Hospital is to get a $30 million multi-storey car park, with spaces for up to 800 vehicles.
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NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard revealed the plans to The Daily Advertiser on Wednesday.
Mr Hazzard said the exact design details were still being finalised.
“The $170 million stage three development of Wagga Base Hospital is to be followed by a new $30 multi-storey car park,” he said.
“People have been telling me about the need for it. I have committed to it.”
Mr Hazzard said there was an increase in the number of patients using Wagga Base Hospital, and when stage three’s ambulatory care services building was complete, this would likely continue.
The minister also rejected as untrue claims by Wagga independent Joe McGirr that the hospital was under funded by millions of dollars each year.
Mr Hazzard said Dr McGirr, a former senior administrator at the hospital, “should know better and know how it works”.
Wagga deputy mayor Dallas Tout said car parking in the Wagga Base Hospital precinct had been a big issue for the city for a long time.
He welcomed the announcement of the new car park and said council would be keen to work with the government on the most appropriate design and on how best to manage traffic flows.
Mr Hazzard’s announcement came just a day after independent and minor party candidates criticised the Liberal government for attempting to “buy votes” ahead of the Wagga byelection on September 8.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian, however, has rejected the comments.
“I note some criticism from our political rivals about the government’s investments in Wagga and I reject them. Of course it’s something they would say, but this government has a proud [and] strong record of delivery for the Wagga electorate over our time in office,” Ms Berejiklian told The Daily Advertiser.
“The choice is clear at this byelection – a vote for Julia Ham and the Liberal team that is delivering for the region – or a vote for someone else not in government and who can’t deliver.
“This is demonstrated no more clearly than our rebuild of the new Wagga Base Hospital. Promised for years by Labor, but never built. I recall that famous front page of The Daily Advertiser from 2009 highlighting the string of Labor ministers who had promised it.
“Well, I’m proud it took the election of a Liberals and Nationals government to finally deliver the new hospital.
“This is on top of the previously delivered new court house, the upgrade to Gocup Road, the new school being built at Estella and I could go on.”