CONSORTIA hoping to build Bendigo’s new $630 million hospital are still waiting to hear back from the government months after an expected short list announcement.

The government had said it would announce a short list from the expression of interest phase in November last year.

But a government spokeswoman was yesterday unable to set a date for the announcement.

“Evaluations of the EOI’s for the Bendigo PPP (private public partnership) are currently being completed,” she said.

“An announcement regarding short-listed bidders is expected early in 2012.”

Premier Ted Baillieu announced last June the hospital would be designed, built and managed under a private public partnership.

He said at the time, it would ensure the project would be delivered on time, on budget and at the best value for tax payers.

What remains unclear is the cause of the delay.

The Bendigo Advertiser is yet to receive a response about the cause of the delay and the consequences it will have on the construction timetable.

Construction of the hospital was forecast to start in December this year and finish in 2016.

The Coalition, two months out from the 2010 state election, offered more money than the former government to build the new hospital. The additional $102 million commitment also included plans to co-locate all facilities onto one site, a five-room mother and baby unit, an integrated cancer centre, and a community-based youth mental health facility.

Bendigo East MP Jacinta Allan yesterday stood by her government’s funding commitment and said Labor’s project would have been completed by 2016.

She said there was “a big dark cloud over the completion of Bendigo’s new hospital by 2016”.

“The Liberal National government said after the election that they too would complete the new hospital by 2016,” Ms Allan said.

“Timelines for this project are tight, and any slippage in the process is cause for a great concern.”

Melbourne’s Royal Women’s, Royal Children’s and Casey hospitals are all private public partnership projects.

Under this model, Bendigo will remain a public hospital but the design, construction and building management will be handled by private companies.

“The Victorian government has delivered two PPP projects on time and budget, including the Royal Children’s Hospital, which has spanned three successive governments, and achieving financial close on the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre within timeline,” the spokeswoman said yesterday.