the goan I network
MARGAO
Is the payment of dues to the contractors amounting to around Rs 20 crore the reason behind the delay in
Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) handing over the long-delayed South district hospital building to the Health Services?
With the September-end deadline to hand over the hospital building to the Director of Health Services long past, GSIDC officials have attributed the delay in the payment of dues to the contractor, resulting in the slow pace of work.
That’s not all. The equipment for the operation theatres are still not installed, and are apparently still in transit, having been shipped from abroad.
Sources in the know further informed that the government is also yet to take a call on the utilization of the top two floors of the district hospital under construction, with sources saying that work on the top two floors is presently on hold.
GSIDC General Manager, Jude Carvalho had submitted before the Goa Legislative Assembly Public Undertaken Committee headed by Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat on July 9 that the agency will hand over the hospital building to Health Director by September-end, which would then pave way for the Hospicio authorities to shift
their operations to the new hospital.
Officials attached to the health services as well as Hospicio told The Goan that they are yet to receive any communique from the GSIDC requesting them to take over possession of the hospital building.
“Nothing has come from GISDC till date. We are awaiting communication from the agency or the government to start the shifting operations,” a health official added.
When contacted, a senior GISDC official pointed out that though major work on the hospital building is completed, many minor jobs remain incomplete.
The official pointed out that the delay in the payment of dues amounting to around Rs 20 crore may be one of the reasons behind the delay in completing the hospital building in all respects.
“We hope to complete the balance work at least by October-end,” the GSIDC official said.
Incidentally, the GSIDC had assured the Public Undertaking Committee of the Goa Legislative Assembly earlier this year that the district hospital building will be complete in all respects by July last, only to set a new deadline to complete the project by September-end, a deadline which went abegging again.
Incidentally, while the Pramod Sawant-led government had time and again promised to commission the district hospital project at the earliest, the government is yet to come out with a fixed time frame to complete the project.
