Construction is underway on a replica of Scotty the T. rex at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM).

The project pegged to cost around $700,000 ($150,000 for the replica exhibit and $500,000-$600,000 for construction) began in early November after the drawings were approved. 

Peter Menzies, the director of the RSM, said the renovation of the area should be done by March and the exhibit should be finished in May.

"It's going great, things are on time, which is outstanding work by everybody involved because we had a very short timeline to put this together," he said. "It's been a great team of architects, construction guys, electrical people, all kinds of people working together so it's looking good so far."

Menzies said they've managed to increase the number of visitors consistently over the past couple of years at Eastend's T. rex Discovery Centre and adding the clone to the Regina museum shouldn't have a negative impact.

"Our mandate, of course, is to uncover and reveal as much as possible of the natural history to all the people of Saskatchewan," he said. "This gives a great opportunity to people who are beyond the reach of Eastend to see it as well. That being said Eastend will always be the home of Scotty and I'm very confident that the heightened profile of Scotty will just be great for everyone."

Scotty is one of the five most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossils ever found, with nearly 60 per cent of the entire fossil recovered.

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