If the politicians close to the project know what’s happening with the redevelopment, they aren’t telling us. 

All we know is that the two tenders are still being considered after the state government added an extra stage to the process around Christmas. 

Health Minister David Davis again failed to indicate when the project might start during a visit to Bendigo yesterday. 

And he wouldn’t say if Lend Lease was excluded from the project due to its union agreement which breaches government guidelines.

Plans to open the hospital in 2016 seem more and more unlikely, and it’s a problem of the government’s own making. 

The delays haven’t been adequately explained, and it’s not known if the project will start in one month, six months, a year, or longer. 

Nobody doubts the project will be a massive boost to the local economy and eventually the health of the area. 

That has never been questioned, and Bendigo can count itself lucky that it’s home to such an impressive development. 

But if the development has been delayed and mismanaged before it’s even started, who knows what to expect during the actual construction. 

Let’s hope we can receive a little clarity around the redevelopment in coming weeks. 

It’s too important to get wrong.

?– BLAIR THOMSON, reporter