A due diligence review executed by the Canadian Commercial Corporation to determine SNC Lavalin’s eligibility to build the $1 billion Penal hospital and rehabilitation centre will be completed by the end of next week, says Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal. Speaking at his Debe constituency office yesterday, Moonilal said the Government continues to view with concern the decision of the Canadian authorities to appoint SNC Lavalin to design the hospital.
Moonilal denied that the T&T Government was embroiled in a controversial multibillion-dollar contract with SNC Lavalin, a company which was banned from bidding on contracts funded by the World Bank in April this year. “Contrary to what is being said in the public domain and on the blogs, we are not involved in a multimillion-dollar deal with SNC Lavalin,” he said.
“The hospital project is done in phases. Phase One involves the substantiative design and technical work. SNC Lavalin has been contracted for that. That has cost us $2.2 million so there is no multibillion-dollar arrangement.” He added that the Government plans to end Phase One soon and then review its relationship with the Canadian government for Phase Two.
“It may involve asking the Canadian government to select another contractor which we may feel more comfortable with, given all the circumstances but that is a decision that the Udecott board has to address,” Moonilal said. “I have mandated the Udecott board to review the arrangement with the Canadian government and the role of SNC Lavalin in the future of the hospital project.”
Saying that the Government has had concerns with SNC Lavalin’s track record and current status, Moonilal said once the due diligence review is completed, government will make a decision on whether SNC Lavalin will build the hospital. He said the People’s Partnership will continue to have a government-to-government arrangement with Canada.
Moonilal also disagreed that government-to-government arrangements were detrimental of the country. He said the government had embarked on a new phase of these arrangements, in which local content was underscored. He said under such contracts, the contractor had an obligation to use 50 per cent local content.
Moonilal said the workforce for the $7.5 billion highway was 90 per cent local. He added that local materials and sub-contractors benefitted from such arrangements. Moonilal said he planned to liaise with the Joint Consultative Council for the construction industry and the Local Content Chamber to discuss their content.
Meanwhile, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Commercial Corporation Marc Whittington says T&T is benefiting from competitive interest rates, and technology transfers because of its government-to-government arrangement with Canada. In a statement yesterday, Whittington said the CCC has played a key role in brining together a financing scenario for the project.
“Consequently, the financing package has been able to attract interest rates that are very competitive and are in fact lower than what would be considered general commercial rates,” he said.
He added that “although the exact terms and details are not available as the financing has not been finalised, it is clear that a government-to-government arrangement with the Canadian government will continue to offer financial advantages to T&T as the involvement of the CCC and possibly other Canadian agencies often results in lower interest rates and preferential conditions in the financing package.”
Whittington also said there will be benefits to locals in terms of technology transfers, training, and corporate social responsibility. “Local benefits to be realised under the Penal project are still being defined within the proposal,” he said. However, it is clear that local expertise and knowledge will be gained through training on medical equipment operations and experience with international standards for the construction and operations of health care facilities,” Whittington added.
Moonilal also said the Government wanted to create a skilled workforce by encouraging the transfer of knowledge. “We want to create a labour force that could one day build a hospital by themselves without the help of any other government or group of workers outside of T&T,” he said.