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Hospital project soldiers on!

Hon. Ronnie Skelton disclosed that the Peebles Hospital project has continued for over 14 years and seen its expenditure surpass the $100m mark. Photo: VINO/File
No date has been given for the completion of the extension project of the Peebles Hospital. Photo: VINO/File
No date has been given for the completion of the extension project of the Peebles Hospital. Photo: VINO/File
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon. Ronnie W. Skelton informed the House of Assembly that 14 years have elapsed and over $100m was spent on the Hospital project from various sources of funding. Yet there was no deadline date given for completion of the project.

"Madam Speaker, the new Peebles Hospital has been in development for quite a number of years and, was such, that it was necessary to conduct an extensive research to obtain a comprehensive account of the expenditures incurred in connection with this major development," Hon. Skelton stated. 

Hon. Skelton provided the answer in response to part a) of a three-part series of questions posed by First District Representative, Hon. Andrew A. Fahie; this section dealt with the expenditure of soft and hard costs including but not limited to consultancy, technical advice, project management, construction, etc. 

He continued by saying that the figures he was able to provide included "costs relating to the Peebles Hospital extension, commonly referred to as the annex, as well as pre-construction consultancy and other related works of the new hospital's main building." 

This he declared, dated as far back as 1998, encompassing some fourteen years and reflected a total of $99.4m. 

Hon. Skelton gave a breakdown of this figure and stressed to the Speaker of the House that it should be noted that other associated expenditure would have been incurred by other Ministries that were involved in the project. 

In relation to part b) of the question asked by Hon. Fahie regarding the amount coming from the proceeds of loan funding from all sources, Hon. Skelton announced that "$57,914,570.19 of the expenditure recorded in the Ministry of Health and Social Development was sourced through loan funding." 

He added that two loans were obtained from the BVI Social Security Board in the amounts of $35m in 2007 and $15m in 2009, respectively.

"The remaining expenditure of $7,914,570.19" he noted, "was paid from a loan obtained from Banco Popular de Puerto Rico on October 8, 2009." 

The final question, part c) of the 3-part question dealt with the amount expended on the hospital project to date came from local funding. 

To this the Hon. Minister responded that of the total amount previously mentioned, $41.5m was directly funded through the Central Government over the last fourteen years, which equated to an average of $2.96m per year.

16 Responses to “ Hospital project soldiers on!”

  • ooooo (05/09/2012, 16:25) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    ronnie is the cause of all this mess we are in today...he wont listen...after being warned about that imcopetent contractor that he hired..{ with cheap labour and never built a hospital in his life}...he still went full speed ahead and created this mess
  • zoe (05/09/2012, 16:43) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    but this dude told us in 18 months the hospital will be done now he saying something else!
    • help help help help (06/09/2012, 01:17) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
      NDP is to be blame for this....soemone should go to jail
  • never again (05/09/2012, 17:00) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    before they finaish the hospital they gone to do airport and cruise ship pair...they must go!!!!
  • DA VOICE (05/09/2012, 18:00) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    mr skelton i need a job. can you help?
  • ann (06/09/2012, 00:55) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Seems like this hospital got jinks and will never finish
  • Not2Sure (06/09/2012, 08:18) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    So the basic message is: we are going to spend more time and more money looking backwards and raking over the ashes of our own failures, and we have absolutely no idea when we'll actually be able to finish. Thank you for clarifying that.

    Funny thing. I didn't read anything in there which sounded like an apology from Mr Skelton for the colossal waste and mismanagement of this project. It seems that no one is quite so uncaring about the damage they cause as a politician.
  • BREAKING NEWS (06/09/2012, 09:28) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    VIP had 10 out of those 14 years to finish that hospital !!! I am so glad we got rid of them! They will never run this Country again!!!

    MARK MY WORD!!!
  • in the news (06/09/2012, 10:16) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    did ronnie add in the hole in the hill in the time line???
  • Boo (06/09/2012, 11:38) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    That hospital will be obsolete before it is even finished. 14 years! Hmmmpph
  • Yo (06/09/2012, 20:41) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    My question for the Minister is why he have the Chairman cousin still their after all the mess she doing. If he planning to take that woman and her sidekick into the new hospital he might as well don't bother to finish it!
  • observer (09/09/2012, 18:33) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    I´m observing from outside. It´s quite unprofessional by government managing the health sector. For half the price of 100 M $ they had could buy on the international market a turnkey ready hospital in this size. A turnkey-ready medical center for VG or Agenada would cost about 2.5 M $. They promise what about they have no plan at all.
  • Voter (10/09/2012, 17:51) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Another one term government! No vision, no plan.


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