Barring unforeseen delays, a new prison to replace the 166-year-old HMP will be open in four years’ time.

“You’re looking at some time in 2029 that this facility will be here and will be operational.”

That was Infrastructure Minister Elvis Loveless yesterday at the East White Hills site, just up the road from the city dump.

Much has changed since grand plans were first announced in 2019, not the least of which was the pandemic and cost—from about $400 million then, to almost $700 million now.

And that’s with a major design change from campus-style to more contained layout spanning 20,000 square metres with 300 beds, including space for female inmates.

The consortium New Avalon Corrections Partners, the preferred and only bidder officially broke ground yesterday, with site clearing and fencing to come.

Justice Minister John Haggie said the focus will be on rehabilitation and therapeutic care, with a goal of more positive interaction between staff and inmates, to make life on the inside a little easier for both.

The PCs’ Helen Conway Ottenheimer seems skeptical.

“It is election bait. It’s election fodder.”