$7M for a bed at Scarborough HospitalBy Andre Bagoo Sunday, September 5 2010
A SINGLE bed at the behind-schedule 100-bed Scarborough Hospital in Tobago has cost the taxpayers of this country, on average, $7 million, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said yesterday as she revealed the estimated cost for the project now stands at $700 million.
At a tour of the under-construction facility, which was due for completion this month under the terms of a fixed contract with the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), the Prime Minister said the hospital originally had an estimated cost of $135 million but this has since gone to $700 million.
“This means that the cost of one bed is $7 million dollars,” the Prime Minister said as her Health Minister Therese Baptiste-Cornelis looked on, “Can you believe that? I just wanted to tell you that.”
Baptiste-Cornelis added, “It’s the most expensive hospital bed in the world.”
Baptiste-Cornelis could not rule out that the Government may incur further costs in terms of penalties for the late payment of monies owed to the Chinese contractor, who had signed fixed-price contract with a fixed date with the National Insurance Infrastructure Development Corporation (NIPDEC). She, however, noted that $200 million was allocated in this year’s Budget for payment to the contractor, a sum she indicated was inadequate.
“I won’t say the cost would go up...because of the delay in payment,” she said. But she admitted that there was only $2 million of the budgeted $2 million left for dispersal, in the face of mounting claims, when the People’s Partnership took office.
“So far we have raised an additional $50 million for that and this week we got another $2.9 million for construction invoices and $25 million for equipment which is another 28 million,” the Health Minister said.
Work on the project has seen a series of contractual disputes and the hiring of a new contractor. With taxpayers’ money jumping, the Prime Minister was strident that the Government would get on top of the project.
“We are going to do everything we can to get this hospital up and running,” Persad-Bissessar said. “The hospital will be completed. As you can see it is nowhere close to completion. I do not know where the cost over-runs have come or why they have come but we shall seek to audit. A forensic and financial audit will be done.
“My heart aches for the people of Tobago and I am saddened to see people involved in a fight last night who, I am told, had to be flown to Trinidad for treatment. If the hospital had been completed it might have been better resolved,” she said.
“The inception of this project was really in UNC days and we have come back to Government ten years later and we will try to complete it. We will make sure this hospital is completed. We will not allow taxpayers’ money to go to waste. We will keep a very strong eye on the timeline.”
The Prime Minister said she hoped the hospital would be completed by next year, but she could not give an estimated completion date.
At a post-Cabinet press briefing in Tobago this week, the Tobago Affairs Minister, Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, said the hospital may open in December 2011, more than a full year of the revised completion date under contractors CRCC.
Sunday Newsday has been informed that the hospital project has been dogged by late payments of monies by the last government as well as delays in getting materials. As such Chinese contractors on site say the company’s approach to penalties incurred under its fixed contract may be relaxed, as the contractor, who has sub-contracted to about a dozen local firms, has not been able to bring in the contract on time.
The walls of the hospital have already been painted, with Chinese and Trinidadian workmen adding finishing touches yesterday. The rooms still require fixtures and fittings and the roofing system is not complete. The project appeared to be substantially more complete than it was during a tour last year by the commissioners of the Uff Commission of Inquiry.
