The $180,000 parking lot

Members of the assembly approved $2.4 million for furniture and equipment for three regional health facilities, even though construction of the facilities has not yet begun.

The money, part of supplementary appropriations to the 2002-3 capital budget, allocates $1.1 million to equipment for the Kitikmeot and Kivalliq heath centres and $200,000 for the proposed Qikiqtani General Hospital.

Finance Minister Kelvin Ng clarified that the furniture and equipment must be purchased in advance so the design can accommodate it.

A special warrant for $3.5 million was issued on Oct. 9 to fund design, development and construction of the Kivalliq Health Centre.

The capital appropriation, which totalled $27.2 million, also included $180,000 transferred to the legislative assembly’s capital budget from its O&M budget to pave the parking lot of the assembly building in Iqaluit.