January 23rd 2023

Prime Minister delivers comprehensive account of St. Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project

by Office of the Prime Minister

A REVIEW COMMITTEE FOUND THAT EXPENDITURE HAD ACCELERATED FROM A $500K ‘FIRST WORKS’ CONTRACT AWARDED IN 2010, TO AN ESTIMATED $98M VALUATION BY THE END OF 2016.

On January 18, 2023, Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre tabled a motion in Parliament to debate and examine the recommendations of the St. Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project Review Committee. The Review Committee was appointed in 2021 and comprised a seven-member cohort of professionals to analyze the events surrounding the St. Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project that was initiated after the fateful fire of 2009.

Expenditure for the hospital reconstruction project accelerated from an initial half million dollar ‘first works’ contract awarded in 2010, to an estimated EC $98 million valuation by the end of 2016. In 2016, construction was halted for nearly three years. Consequently, the Phase I site along with already procured materials and equipment deteriorated.

By 2019, the project deviated from the Phase I trajectory. In less than three years between 2019 and 2021, Phase II was erected at an estimated cost that exceeded EC $100 million to date. Nearly completed buildings on the Phase I site valued at approximately EC $7 million were demolished to accommodate Phase II construction. The Review Committee’s findings and recommendations would also inform the Pierre Administration on the way forward to completing construction. However, various government funded audits and technical reviews on the project unanimously concluded that the previously abandoned Phase I project was “salvageable”, and furthermore, that the transfer of hospital operations from the George Odlum National Stadium could have been facilitated from as early as 2017.

Prime Minister Pierre has endeavored to bring the St. Jude Hospital Reconstruction Project to completion, guided by technical expertise from a diverse group of professionals.

Currently, the first phase of the resumed project is advancing. The subsequent construction phases will correct design flaws and eventually bring the entire facility into practical completion.

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