VIDALIA — Though an official date hasn’t been set for the groundbreaking of the new Promise Hospital on the Vidalia Riverfront, some basic work has begun.

Crews have begun doing some basic groundwork to extend a gas line to the site, Corporate Spokesman for Promise Hospital John Kaye said.

The hospital has gotten all of the required permits and is taking the necessary steps to begin construction, Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland said.

“That’s going to be a $21 million construction, and it’s going to provide approximately 140 good paying jobs,” he said.”

The date of the official groundbreaking for the site has still not been set, Kaye said, but the company does plan to have some kind of ceremony.

“We are dotting all of the ‘i’s’ and crossing all of the ‘t’s’ in preparation for construction,” he said.

The hospital aims to open the new facility by December 2008, and it will have 40 private rooms and eight intensive care unit beds.

The new facility will replace the current Promise Hospital of the Miss-Lou location near Ferriday.

The Vidalia Riverfront was chosen because the relocation of the inpatient hospital operations to a newly constructed 50,000 square foot building in Vidalia will allow the hospital to be more centrally located within the population or service area it serves, Kaye said.

Relocating will also allow the hospital better access to the medical community, he said.

“(It) will aid in recruitment of potential physicians, specialties and clinicians,” he said. “This will allow for program enhancement and new program development to better meet the needs of the community.”

Promise Hospital of the Miss-Lou provides long-term acute care for patients who need care beyond a regular hospital stay.

The parent company of the hospital, Promise Healthcare, Inc., is located in Boca Raton, Fla.