WASHINGTON -- The House this week signed off on a veterans hospital complex for Southern Nevada at a price tag 40 percent more than originally planned.
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A bill that authorized construction projects for the Department of Veterans Affairs was passed by voice vote on Wednesday.
Among the favored projects, the bill renewed the go-ahead for a 90-bed hospital, outpatient clinic and 120-bed nursing home in North Las Vegas at a $406 million cost the VA set in February.
In Feb. 2005, the agency estimated the project would carry a $286 million price tag. But designs that added 50,000 square feet to a nursing unit and the nursing home inflated costs, as well as projected higher costs for labor and construction materials in Las Vegas.
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said groundbreaking at the medical center site at Pecos Road and the Las Vegas Beltway is scheduled for October.
Berkley said House lawmakers "are answering the call" of more than 200,000 veterans in Southern Nevada.
"As our veterans population continues to grow we must ensure that Nevada has the facilities necessary to care for them," said Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev.
