Public Health, Social Development and Labor VSA Minister Omar Ottley told Parliament (see Thursday paper) that the latest projected completion date for the first phase of St. Maarten General Hospital (SMGH) is October 2025. Considering the original target of February 29, 2024, the present delay is not even so bad considering all that has happened since it was set.
Without going into detail, the impacts of Hurricane Irma, the COVID-19 crisis and Russia’s war against Ukraine basically tell the story. It also meant significant increases in the price tag, from US $61.9 million in 2016 to $82.9 million in 2021, to which another $40 million must currently be added.
There were other factors too, related to financial difficulties of the company that the Italian contractor was part of back then. This resulted in, among other things, problems opening a local bank account.
Based on these unpredictable and detrimental circumstances, a setback of less than two years seems understandable enough. The same can be said about the greater cost involved due to supply issues and raging global inflation.
Both developments are at any rate not unusual with ventures of such magnitude, as similar hospital projects on Aruba and Curaçao showed. In the latter case a last-minute change of location with extra infrastructural and demolition requirements played a major role.
One big plus is that investments to expand and improve services at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) continued in the meantime. This not only helps ensure quality affordable local healthcare and cuts down on referrals abroad from now, but should prove useful in terms of experience when the transition to the new adjacent complex takes place.
Nevertheless, it’s high time to finish the job and finally deliver.
