Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister, Philip J Pierre, on Wednesday has tabled a motion in Parliament to debate as well as examine the St Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project Review Committee’s recommendations. The Review Committee, which was appointed in 2021 and is comprising a 7-member cohort of professionals to properly analyze the events, which surrounds the St Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project that was started following the fateful fire of 2009.
Expenditure for the hospital reconstruction project spiked from a half million dollar ‘first works’ contract awarded in 2010, to around EC $98 million valuation by the finish of 2016. In the year of 2016, construction project was stopped for around 3 years. Consequently, the Phase I site and already procured materials & equipment deteriorated.
The project varied from the Phase I trajectory. In just less than 3 years between 2019 & 2021, Phase II was erected at an around the cost that has exceeded EC $100 million to date.
The buildings which are mostly completed on the Phase I site valued at around EC$7 million were demolished to adjust Phase II construction. The recommendations as well as findings of the Review Committee would also inform the Pierre Administration on the way forward to completing construction. Whereas, several government funded audits & technical reviews on the project unanimously concluded that the earlier abandoned Phase I project was “salvageable”, and moreover, that the transfer of the operations of the hospital from the George Odlum National Stadium could have been eased from as early as 2017.
Prime Minister Pierre has endeavoured to bring the St. Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project to its final stage, as guided by technical expertise from a diverse professionals group.
Right now, the first phase of the resumed project is moving ahead. The subsequent construction phases will ratify design flaws & eventually bring the complete facility into practical completion.
