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Kurt Sansone
A relaxed Lawrence Gonzi, flanked by junior minister Tonio Fenech and Health Minister Louis Deguara yesterday announced for the umpteenth time the opening date for the new hospital in Tal-Qroqq after successfully concluding negotiations with Swedish consortium Skanska.
The hospital is expected to be fully operational by 1 July 2007, almost a year before the next election is due in 2008.
Gonzi would not reveal details as to how much government was ready to pay for the completion of the works. “I will be presenting Cabinet with all the details of the negotiations on Monday and in the evening I will be making a declaration in Parliament when all the details will be divulged,” Gonzi said.
Government now has a completion date, a final price and established fines for any infringement of the agreement’s clauses.
Negotiations with Skanska entered their final lap yesterday after talks were broken off 10 days ago when a visibly distraught Gonzi had declared that no agreement had been reached.
The agreement reached yesterday crowns a four month saga during which relations between government and Skanska soured after Gonzi took it on himself to renegotiate arrangements with the consortium in a bid to get a clear opening date and a precise cost.
Mater Dei has been dogged in controversy from day one. After the contract signed with Skanska in 2000 promised to deliver a top notch hospital by 2003, numerous deadlines were broken and expenditure ballooned out of control from Lm83 million to Lm200 million.
For the last couple of months Gonzi consistently blamed the consortium for the failure to get the hospital operational on time and within stipulated the cost limits.
But the Prime Minister has always refrained from training his sights on the Foundation for Medical Services that was entrusted to oversee the project. All expenditure made by Skanska had to be endorsed by FMS according to the contract signed in 2000.
When asked whether he will be considering any changes in the way FMS would be structured in order to monitor the new agreement, Gonzi yesterday said only slight modifications will be necessary. “Now that we have a pre-established sum for completion the risk has passed on to Skanska rather than FMS and any changes will be made to reflect this change of function,” Gonzi said.
kurt@newsworksltd.com
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