The company contracted by government to build the Specialty Hospital is in the business of dealing spare parts and has never constructed anything in the past. The company is Surendra Engineering.
This is according to Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, who at a press conference today condemned the fact that construction of the US$18M hospital will commence soon at the Turkeyen location.
During this year’s budget debate, a $1.25B provision for the hospital was cut by the parliamentary opposition. Recently, Attorney General Anil Nandlall revealed that the construction will soon commence and that a consultancy contract has been awarded to a local company.
According to Ramjattan, the AFC has learnt that the Government of India and the Indian Exim Bank are very concerned about Surendra being awarded the contract, when it has no history of hospital construction.
“The company building the hospital has never built anything close to a hospital. There is every suggestion that this unnamed construction consultancy is only to disguise the real likelihood that there will be a successful completion of the contract,” Ramjattan said.
He condemned the corrupt deal and wants the contract to be retendered.
“Why should we as a people, allow this thing to happen, when we have Fip Motielall, he never built a road [Amaila Falls Access Road] and then he was given $15M to build the road. It’s almost the identical thing here, where a person who has never built anything, I don’t think they have ever built a building, they are spare parts dealers working out of Dubai… it is very difficult to understand.”
The AFC believes that this is thorough corruption by the government. The AFC leader also revealed that some members on the tender board vacationed in Dubai.
