After an 18-month delay, construction on Halifax’s proposed $500 million convention centre could get underway this summer.

Halifax Regional Municipality is due to make public today a Memorandum of Understanding between itself and the provincial government and Council is due to vote on the deal Tuesday.

The deal is likely to outline funding, terms of the lease, ownership and possibly options for the province to buy the convention centre in future.

The facility includes the convention centre, a hotel, residential and retail space and a financial office tower.

Construction on the project was to start in December 2010, but funding from the federal government was not announced until August 2011, in the amount of $51.4 million.

Developer Joe Ramia, of Rank Inc, spoke with reporters in Halifax in June, suggesting he was nearly ready to make an announcement on the Nova Centre project. He said the efforts to secure a main tenant were frustrated by the global economic crisis, but he said he’s been having meetings with companies and institutions from around the world.