The Movement for Social Justice is calling on the Government to restart the Point Fortin Hospital project immediately.
In a press conference outside of the stalled hospital project in Techier Village, Point Fortin, MSJ leader David Abdulah accused the PNM of abandoning their strongest supporters.
“We are here because of the issue of the abandonment of this project—the Point Fortin Hospital project,” Abdulah said.
“This hospital was started some time just before the 2015 election and after two or three months, construction work has come to a grinding halt. And we are saying here in the MSJ that the PNM Government and the PNM borough—the PNM controls both the central government and the borough of Point Fortin—have literally abandoned the people of Point Fortin, they have turned their backs on the people of Point Fortin by having this project halted.”
Saying that a hospital for Point Fortin has been on every budget since the late Dr Eric Williams was prime minister, Abdulah said the project was a priority.
Stating that there can be no excuse for the stoppage of work, Abdulah said, “It can’t be a question of money because money was found to complete the Tarouba Stadium better known as the Brian Lara Stadium.
“The Brian Lara Stadium will save no lives, it will not help a mother who is in the throes of labour, it will not help a worker who has suffered an accident on the job, it not help someone who has gotten into a vehicular accident or a child who is ill.”
He said as an area with major industrial activity, Point Fortin was sadly neglected.
Abdulah said “There is additional work taking place in the Labidco Industrial Estate with the construction of a major petro-chemical plant jointly between the Massy Group and a Japanese company, Mitsubishi—that is a major project going on—which again could lead to accidents and the persons there would then have to be transported all the way to San Fernando.”
He also called for the Point Fortin Fire Station to be rebuilt as a priority and said residents of Techier and Point Fortin must benefit from employment during the construction phases.
“The community of Techier and the borough of Point Fortin has one of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the country and therefore this is an opportunity, as short term as the opportunity might be for construction and employment and the people must get jobs.”
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According to Udecott’s website, construction on the 100-bed, three-storey building of the Point Fortin Hospital project is listed as ongoing.
The project, estimated to cost $1.2 billion, is being funded through a government-to-government arrangement with Austria and the main contractor is an Austrian firm Vamed Engineering GmbH & CO KG.
The website does not list a date for completion.