Almost half of Ontario’s hospitals are in poor repair, a situation far worse than for the provinces roads, bridges and other infrastructure, the Financial Accountability Office reported on Thursday.
In all, the report estimates the province owns infrastructure worth about a quarter of a trillion dollars with about one third in bad shape.
“Keeping assets in a state of good repair helps to maximize the benefits of public infrastructure in a cost-effective manner,” the report states.
Remedying the situation won’t come cheap, it says.
The office pegs the cost of needed repairs at $64.5 billion over the next decade – roughly $6.5 billion a year. The figure includes taking five years to address the current repair backlog, then doing the necessary maintenance over the following five years to keep infrastructure up to snuff.
However, according to the report, the province only set aside $47.7 billion for capital repairs over the coming decade in its 2019 budget.
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