Works began yesterday for the construction of the controversial US$18M Specialty Hospital at Turkeyen, on the East Coast of Demerara, where local firm BK International is laying the foundation.
“We are now driving the piles; you know, doing some grubbing works,” a BK International supervisor told Stabroek News at the site yesterday.
Work has restarted following a controversial vote in Parliament last month which allowed funding for the project to be passed. APNU MP Volda Lawrence did not vote as intended as she was unwell.
On Tuesday, BK International’s crewmen began transferring machinery to the site and yesterday
work commenced. Excavators and bulldozers were on site and while two were working, the supervisor assured that works were moving apace and there would be no delays in their sub contract.
The man could not answer questions about the timeframe for the construction and money paid but directed this newspaper to Surendra Engineering, representatives of which, he said, are in the country and would be visiting the site “from time to time to see how things going.”
Stabroek News has been trying for over a year to contact Surendra Engineering officials and all efforts have proven futile as the company would not return e-mails or phone calls.
During last year’s consideration of the budget estimates, a proposed $1.25B allocation for the controversial hospital was cut by the opposition.
Main opposition APNU had pointed to the government’s lack of dialogue on the opposition’s concern that the formulation of the deal was not transparent, while the AFC had raised objections and pointed out that Surendra Engineering, the company awarded the contract for the hospital’s construction, already had problems with the Enmore Sugar Packaging Plant and had never before built a hospital.
At one point, another Indian firm, Fedders Lloyd, had complained about the tendering process but it has since abandoned its attempt to have the contract rescinded.
Some $34.4M was approved at the December 12th sitting of the National Assembly when Lawrence did not vote.
