The ACT government says a contractor error is to blame for a major flood that has set the opening of Canberra's cancer centre back by six months.
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ACT Health has given a glimpse of the extent of the damage to the $45 million centre, with three storeys of the building facing significant works, including the replacement of floors and ceilings.
But the health directorate said it could not give a final estimate of the costs to the project until work was finished to strip the waterlogged parts from building.
The Canberra Times revealed in December that a burst pipe, which flooded the building with 40,000 litres of water, had pushed back the opening of the cancer centre to the middle of this year.
The centre, which had been due to open on the Canberra Hospital campus in November, was in the final stages of construction when the leak happened in September.
The flood has caused major damage to the second, third and fourth floors of the building and parts of the centre will effectively have to be gutted and rebuilt.
A spokeswoman for ACT Health said the refit works would include, but were not limited to, replacement of floors, ceilings, partition walls, building services equipment and joinery units on each damaged floor.
The spokeswoman said assessment of the flood damage would be claimed under insurance, but she did not specify whether the refit would also be covered by insurance. ''The cause of the water leak has been linked to workmanship error with pipe-fitting installation,'' she said.
Chief Minister Katy Gallagher told the ACT Legislative Assembly this week that the centre's opening had been set back until after April but no patients had had their treatment disrupted by the delays.