Rahael moves to restart Tobago hospital project

The $135 million Scarborough Hospital has been plagued by legal wrangling and cost overruns estimated at $59 million up to September last year. The project started two years ago and was supposed to be completed in April this year.

Speaking at the opening of a series of workshops hosted by the National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd (Nipdec) for Regional Health Authority management, design consultants and Turner Construction, Rahael said, Turner and Nipdec would establish time lines on the "rest of the work that needs to be done."

Rahael said designs used for the Scarborough Hospital were from the 1990s and some services, such as a dialysis unit, had not been considered. During the question session, Rahael said insufficient borings were done at the site and this created "tremendous problems." He said the project "started off on the wrong foot" and he wanted to make sure this did not happen with other projects. Due to delays at the start or completion of several projects in the health sector, Rahael has requested that the workshops take place to finalise issues and concerns related to the design and construction for those which are scheduled to start in the new fiscal year.

In his brief address, Rahael said different demands were placed on the health sector, and the designs which were done five and seven years ago had to be examined to see if they were still required and applicable to the delivery of health care.

Rahael said the Scarborough Hospital project was a learning experience for the ministry and it did not want to repeat errors which took place. "This is the opportunity to determine that the designs are adequate, the manner of construction and how we would go forward and the type of contract we want to engage contractors."

Rahael hoped definite time lines would be established at the end of the workshop. He said budgets also had to be reviewed "to ensure whether or not the sum is sufficient in this environment because those budgets may be five years old."

He said if funding was adequate the ministry expected projects to be completed on time and within budget.

As project manager, Nipdec will no longer be "absentee" in overseeing projects. This was indicated by its chairman, Calder Hart, who said Nipdec must be "on top of things, to work with the best people available to deliver the goods."