Construction on the Calgary Cancer Centre is now 90 per cent complete despite the worksite facing COVID-19 and global supply chain issues over the past year, government officials announced Friday.

Premier Jason Kenney made the announcement from the construction site alongside Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda and Health Minister Jason Copping. The centre is scheduled to be completed by next fall and is expected to finish on time and on budget. However, Panda noted there continue to be issues with supply chains around the world and cautioned that could still cause delays in the project.

“In spite of COVID-19, our dedicated workforce has persevered and this project continues to be on schedule and on budget,” said Panda. “This is such an incredible accomplishment given the challenges that the construction sector has had to deal with.”

The worksite was hit with a COVID-19 outbreak in May when there were 101 reported cases linked to the site. Alberta Health Services representatives said at the time that the project was exempt from a closure protocol that would have otherwise closed the site for a minimum of 10 days.

AHS and Occupational Health and Safety workers assessed the site as it remained open.

On Friday, Kenney boasted that Alberta was one of the only provinces in the country to keep construction going throughout the pandemic, contributing to the $1.4-billion construction project remaining on budget and on time.

“Through the pandemic, we kept building the province and doing so safely. I want to thank PCL and their subcontractors for having done that,” said Kenney. “At the peak, they’ve had as many as 1,600 workers on site, and right now, on any given day, they have between 900 and 1,000. So this is one of the largest builds in the province’s history in terms of health care.”

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