Ongoing COVID-19-related delays and uncertainty around building supplies and costs have further delayed the construction of a new 124-place childcare centre in Warrnambool.
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The centre, to be constructed in Verdon Street at the former Bells Garden Centre site, was scheduled to open mid-year but its opening has now been pushed back to early 2023.
It comes as the region continues to experience huge demand for childcare with desperate families facing a one to two year wait for care at some centres.
Veuve Property Group chief executive Vin Harink said it was in the process of obtaining the relevant building approvals for the Verdon Street centre and would then proceed towards construction.
"The project was pushed back from 2021 due to the impact of COVID-19 and general uncertainties around supply of building materials and costs," Mr Harink said.
The project has been on the table for a few years with Warrnambool City Council approval granted in 2019.
Mr Harink told The Standard in July 2021 it was finalising a construction contract with Fairbrother Constructions and expected "construction to commence shortly".
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He did not confirm this month if Fairbrother had been appointed or a date when construction would begin.
Mr Harink told The Standard in July 2021 that the project was held up in 2020 due to COVID-19 but was proceeding and would open mid-2022.
In December 2021, he told The Standard that construction had been pushed back to the new year.
Mr Harink said previously that the centre would employ 23 people and would be run by an experienced national operator with 25 centres across Australia.
It comes as another new childcare centre is proposed for a vacant parcel of land on Dales Road in Warrnambool with the plans unveiled this week.
Stage one of the project would see the corner section of the site transformed into a child care and early learning facility with 29 off-street car parks and eight on-street parks.
At the time the Dales Road development plan was submitted to Warrnambool City Council, it said four-out-of-five child care centres and two or three early learning centres in North East Warrnambool had no vacancies.
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