The consortium hired as the private component of the P3 for the province’s new mental health and addictions facility says it is local first.

The replacement for the Waterford will cost about $330-million, with construction expected to start next year, with the first patient walking through the doors in 2025.

PC Leader Ches Crosbie has written the two Liberal leadership candidates seeking guarantees that local residents will be given first dibs when it comes to hiring.

Chris Hickman, a spokesman for the consortium, assures the province that will be the case.

He says they are committed to hiring a local workforce with an average of 200 workers at any one time and a peak workforce of over 400.

A job fair will be held in the coming weeks

Meanwhile, the premier says construction of a berm in the area of the Health Sciences would have to be done anyway – with or without the new mental health and addictions facility.

The City of St. John’s and others are concerned about the placement of the hospital, right in the path of the Rennies River floodplain.

Premier Dwight Ball says they have been assured by the experts that the HSC site is sound.

He says the contract for the berm has already been awarded.