"I know this is an incredibly important project for the Otago-Southland region," he said.
Mr Hipkins was health minister in 2020 when the Cabinet signed off, in principle, on the detailed business case for building the hospital.
Dunedin Mayor Jules Radich, who has been fighting cuts to the design of the hospital, drew attention to comments Mr Hipkins had made at the time about it being important "we get this right".
"It is fair to say that Dunedin residents do not believe that these cuts are ‘getting it right’, and they are stridently opposed to them," Mr Radich said in an email to mayors
in the South and the Otago and Southland regional council chairs.
The Government has faced an enduring backlash since it announced in December last year a projected cost escalation of $200 million would be dealt with by increasing the project budget by $110 million and achieving design "savings" of $90 million.
Critics have argued the detailed concept approved by the Cabinet in 2021 had already been slimmed down to what could be considered the minimum of what would be acceptable
Mr Radich said savings would be offset by the cost of delay accompanying redesign.
Counter-arguments have included that project leaders sought to reduce any impact on key clinical services, and hospital clinicians were involved in updating the design.
Mr Hipkins said in 2020 it was important for the project to maintain momentum and the new hospital would be "world class".
"It will have improved clinical capacity and digital technology, and more integrated services to support new models of care."
The prime minister commented in much the same vein this week.
"This new hospital build will be significantly bigger than the existing facility and the Government absolutely continues to back it as the largest health infrastructure project in New Zealand’s history — as recently as December, an additional $110 million was announced to support it."
