The Swan Health Centre, inaugurated on September 9, 2024 along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway, has been surrounded by confusion regarding its construction costs. The facility’s budget has been a topic of debate due to conflicting information released by various officials.
The Ministry of Health initially reported on Facebook that the construction of the health centre came with an approximate price tag of $45 million. However, during the commissioning ceremony, Dr. Frank Anthony, the Minister of Health stated to both SN and the Department of Public Information that the cost was “approximately $40 million.”
Dr Gavinash Persaud, the Regional Health Officer (RHO) for Region 4 has since corrected the record, revealing that the actual cost of the building is $20.222 million and that the construction was led by a contractor by the name of Spectre Construction. The RHO admitted to SN that he had initially provided the Minister with an incorrect figure. To substantiate this correction, the RHO shared the “Invitation to Bid” document, which was published in SN on March 4, 2023, and indicated an engineer’s estimate of $20 million for the project.
