By Caribbean News Global contributor
CASTRIES, St Lucia – Three days after prime minister Allen Chastanet’s untold assertions that continues to compromise Saint Lucia stating, “ We have no more money. What we are hoping to do is to regain the strength of our economy so many persons can be re-employed. The reality is we have a battle. […]” former prime minister and member of parliament for Vieux-Fort, Dr Kenny Anthony, called for an update on St Jude redevelopment project.
“By now it is clear to the constituents of Vieux Fort South, other residents of the south and indeed the people of Saint Lucia that the St Jude hospital will not be completed in December as promised by the government of Saint Lucia and its officials,” added, “given these circumstances, it is now necessary for Guy Joseph, the minister responsible for the construction of St Jude, to provide an update to the people of Saint Lucia on the construction of the hospital and a new completion date.“
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Dr Anthony, in whose constituency the hospital is located, further called on minister Joseph to [if applicable, put his utterances into practice] and respond to the following:
- How much has been spent on the construction of the hospital, to date?
- What is the total projected cost of the hospital, inclusive of new equipment to operate the hospital?
- (a) How much has been paid to the main contractor and the sub-contractors of the project? (b) How much is due and outstanding to these contractors?
- (a)Has the project received health approval, fire approval and solid waste approval? (b) Has an electrical and mechanical engineer certified and submitted mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings to the Development Control Authority (DCA)?
- Whether any additional buildings of the former hospital will be torn down and if so which buildings?
According to Dr Anthony, a lot is amiss on this project. “Firstly, it was a condition of approval of the project that professional indemnity insurance had to be provided and submitted by the designers of the project since the plans were never certified by an architect which is a major submission requirement for any development of that nature to ensure proper circulation within the building. To date, this insurance policy is not in place.
It is inconceivable and frankly unbelievable that the building has reached this stage of construction and there are no signs of electrical works, fire prevention and health and safety at the existing structure. If these packages have not been received and approved by the DCA as I suspect to be the case, then it is even more astonishing that the DCA has not moved to stop construction to protect the people of Saint Lucia.
Dr Anthony further proffered that bearing in mind the criticisms levelled by the prime minister and the minister of economic development against the former St Jude project, the real question is: Why did the DCA even accept a project of that magnitude without the necessary submission requirements?
“Frankly, it is time to provide answers to these questions to put the minds of my constituents and our citizens at peace,” said Dr Anthony.
