Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosario said on Wednesday he was “sure” that the construction of the public hospital in Cotai will not be completed by 2019 as previously planned by the government.
Rosario talked to reporters about the large-scale project after attending a meeting of the legislature’s Follow-up Committee for Land and Public Concession Affairs.
Wednesday’s meeting focused on the progress of the construction of the Cotai Healthcare Complex. The closed-door meeting was held at the Legislative Assembly (AL).
The Cotai hospital project was announced in 2010.
According to Rosario, the Cotai Healthcare Complex comprises seven buildings, six of which are in the first phase of construction.
Rosario said that piling work had been finished in two of the buildings, while for the other buildings, piling work was being conducted or tenders were being reviewed.
When asked when the government expected the project to be completed, Rosario said he was unable to predict when it would be finished.
“We have to ask [various related public entities] to review the blueprints. We’ve seen that for almost all of the buildings, the plans have to be modified after they have been reviewed [by the public entities]. Modifications have been made twice already and I don’t know if they will be made a third time”, Rosario said.
“We don’t know when the building plans will be finally approved, so I am unable to answer when the project is expected to be completed,” said Rosario, adding that “even after the building plans are finished, we then have to compile a bill of quantities. Afterwards, we will be able to invite tenders.”
A bill of quantities is a detailed statement of work, prices, dimensions, and other details, for the erection of a building by contract, sometimes also referred to as BoQ.
“Only when we invite tenders, will we be able to tell you when the project is expected to be completed,” Rosario said.
Rosario also said he was not able to say when the government will invite tenders. “The hospital is a complicated project because it is not a residential or commercial building,” he said.
The government said last year that the Cotai Healthcare Complex project was slated to be completed by 2019.
When asked by a reporter whether the project was still expected to be completed in 2019, Rosario said that “it certainly cannot be.”
Also briefing reporters, Health Bureau (SSM) Director Lei Chin Ion said that he was not able to say how much the government expected the construction of the project to cost, when asked by the media.
(Macau News / The Macau Post Daily)
