One of British Columbia's major public-private partnership projects -- a hospital and cancer centre in the growing Fraser Valley -- has officially opened its doors.
The new $355 million, 300-bed Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre opened Tuesday.
The centre is the first new regional hospital to open in the province in more than 30 years, and will replace the old MSA Hospital,
The new facility will provide enhanced and specialized health services to more than 150,000 people in Abbotsford and surrounding area, and as many as 330,000 in the Fraser Valley region.
A private sector team called Access Health Abbotsford was responsible for financing, designing and building the new hospital but clinical services are being provided within the publicly funded health care system.
The province says the new facility will use 40 per cent less energy than the old facility, which should lead to a savings of $500,000 each year.
Other major public-private partnership projects still under construction are the Sea-to-Sky Highway project to Whistler and the Canada Line rapid transit expansion in Metro Vancouver.
