THE PNM Government has pulled a political stunt similar to what it accused the previous administration of doing.
Outgoing Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley last week formally opened the rebuilt Central Block of Port of Spain General Hospital even though the facility is not completed or equipped.
Graphic video pictures taken by Opposition Senator David Nakhid reveal that the $1.3 billion hospital is still a work site, with large areas being incomplete and with no medical equipment in place.
The facility was hastily commissioned at a gala function ahead of the imminent general election.
In 2015, Rowley and political colleagues accused the Kamla Persad-Bissessar Government of launching the Couva Children’s Hospital before it was completed.
The hospital was fully outfitted with modern medical equipment and supplies.
Despite public pressure, the PNM Government did not use the hospital until the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.
The facility was also renamed.
At the launch of the Central Block, Rowley and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh boasted that new technology would be used but did not state that the hospital is not ready to provide any service.
Deyalsingh said the first intake of patients will be in July.
The Accident and Emergency Department will be refurbished and expanded in the next fiscal year, the minister stated.
The media did not report that the government commissioned an unfinished project.
Chief Executive Officer of North-West Regional Health Authority Anthony Blake focused on the new equipment and additional services and sidestepped the work-in-progress.
The government has denied claims of cost overruns.
The hospital was constructed by Urban Development Company of Trinidad and Tobago (UDECOTT) in a Build, Own, Lease, Transfer (BOLT) arrangement.
The government had offered several reasons for declining to put the Couva Hospital to use, and eventually announced a plan that the Opposition branded as “slapdash and senseless.”
The commissioning of the A.N.R. Robinson International Airport has also taken place despite the several months of work still to be carried out.
Construction is still apace at the terminal.
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar claimed there were cost overruns to the value of $431 million, but Finance Minister Colm Imbert put the figure at $16.9 million.
The ruling PNM is using the airport project as a rallying feature in its campaign to recapture the two Tobago general election constituencies.
The government has touted the rebuilt terminal as a boost for tourism, the mainstay of Tobago’s economy.
Other projects are being hastened or will be launched ahead of the polls.
In contrast, the widening of an area of the Solomon Hochoy Highway was delayed for a grand opening just before the election.
The project was due to be completed last August, but contractors were told to slow the progress.
Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan blamed bad weather and poor material for the delay.
Government ministries and agencies have also made short-term employment of daily-paid workers in an attempt to win political support.
The PNM has a history of launching projects and employing workers on the eve of general elections.
