Opposition MP Colm Imbert is calling on the Government to stop the Penal hospital project, saying there are too many unanswered questions about the embattled Canadian conglomerate, SNC-Lavalin, which is tipped to build the hospital.Imbert, who promised to speak at length on improper procurement practices in Parliament on Friday, said the Government must give full disclosure.He said: "I do not think they should proceed with the project under the present arrangements in view of the cloud that is hanging over SNC-Lavalin.
"Everybody seems to be evading the issue. When we look at the issue, no one is claiming responsibility for this decision to engage this contractor."Canadian High Commissioner to T&T G�rard Latulippe said on Monday the Canadian Commercial Corporation was doing a due-diligence review on SNC-Lavalin and no decision had yet been taken for the company to build the hospital.
The T&T Guardian reported last week a subsidiary of the company, SNC Lavalin Inc, is under a ten-year ban from the World Bank, while former CEO Pierre Duhaime and former construction head Riadh Ben A�ssa have been charged with fraud, conspiracy and bribery.Imbert said the statement made by Latulippe was not sufficient.
"The hospital is costing over $1 billion, from what I saw. Nobody seems to know what procedures were used to select the contractor. Is it an open tender, what were the criteria and who did background checks on this company?" Imbert asked.He said the Government should not proceed with the government-to-government contract until all the details were in the open.
Asked whether he felt Penal was the ideal location for the hospital, Imbert said no."Just as they complained of over-concentration of projects in Port-of-Spain, we have now turned full circle and we now have mega-projects in Penal," Imbert said.He said accessing areas where a multitude of mega-projects existed posed serious problems for the citizenry and Government should spread out projects across the country, rather than concentrating on one area.
President of the Local Content Chamber Lennox Sirjusingh said his group met with the Contractors Association and the Joint Consultative Council on Monday night to discuss government-to-government arrangements. They were now planning to hold a breakfast meeting on July 16 at the Chamber Building in Westmoorings.He expressed concern that several mega-projects were being built by foreign contractors.
Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan yesterday defended the project, saying the Penal hospital was needed in the southern regions as a high level of non-communicable diseases was reported in the area."It is a very good project and when the Prime Minister pitched the idea, I was all in support of it," he added.Khan also said it would be accessible because of the Solomon Hochoy Highway extension.