mmg.com.au

Construction for the Echuca Community for the Aged expansion is hoped to have started by the end of this year.

Chief executive Colin Price said he hoped the title for the subdivision for the first section of land — between the existing site and the ‘green zone’ — would be registered by April.

The Echuca Community for the Aged facility is on Terricks Rd, and the donated land is adjacent to the site.

Council granted permission to subdivide the 14.2ha section of land donated to the organisation to expand the facility at the end of 2011.

Of that, 8.6ha was rezoned as residential one — where the village will expand its buildings — and 5.6ha was made into a public open space area which could eventually include a small lake, walking paths and other recreational facilities.

The plans were then sent to the Victorian Planning Minister’s office for approval, before council granted a planning permit in September last year.

The expansion will see the not-for-profit aged care provider potentially more than doubling in size over the next 10 years.

The first part of the expansion, which Mr Price hopes will be built by mid-way through next year, will see another 14 assisted living units and another 12 independent living units built.

Plans for the rest of the expansion are hoped to be approved by the start of 2015.

Mr Price said there was currently a vacancy in one of the assisted living units, where meals and a laundry service are provided to residents.