The construction of public facilities is always a matter of great interest to the community. Such interest is even stronger when the facility is a hospital which many feel is sorely needed and, if anything, already arriving a couple of decades too late.
But big public works here – and hospitals are no exception – seem to have a remarkable life of their own. They always appear in the process of ‘becoming’ without actually ever ‘being’. It feels like we are observing their development in slow motion, following a path full of twists and turns that may even never truly end. We risk missing the plot altogether. A brief search of past news may prove a helpful reminder.
In February 2010, the media reported a visit by the Chief Executive to the land slot where the future hospital was to be built. Construction was scheduled to start in the second half of 2011. Clinical services would open in 2014. In 2013, the conception of the project was awarded in a (some might say, controversial) limited consultation process.
Upon assuming his post, the Secretary in charge of the health sector committed to ensuring the hospital would be finished during his mandate. Later, in 2015, he confessed he could not set a date, as he was unable to get the required information from the public works office in charge of construction. The Health services indicated (or hoped), nonetheless, that the work could be completed by 2017. By the end of 2015, the Secretary for public works could not confirm conclusion by 2019. There was no project, and the facility was very big, he said. It was not possible to set a deadline or a budget.
Last month, the Chief Executive expressed the hope that the hospital could be (“preliminarily”) ready by the end of his mandate, in 2019. The Secretary for health reiterated, earlier this month, in the Legislative Assembly, that he still expected the conclusion might happen before the end of the (current) mandate. A couple of days ago, questioned by members of the Assembly, the Secretary for public works announced that the foundations for six of the seven buildings in the project were complete and that the construction of the first building might happen by the fourth quarter of 2019.
Who, if anyone, feels responsible for this convoluted plot is not readily discernible. The end is not in sight. Only two features seem guaranteed: further delays and rising costs.
