By NEIL HARTNELL
#Tribune Business Editor
#The Government is aiming to “break ground” on New Providence’s new $290m hospital by September 2024 after the project was approved for “concessionary financing” from a Chinese state-owned bank.
#Dr Michael Darville, minister of health and wellness, yesterday pledged to Tribune Business that the 50-acre facility to be constructed in the Perpall Tract area will be “a Bahamian hospital” after the China Export-Import Bank, the same institution that financed Baha Mar’s multi-billion resort, agreed to fully fund it via a 20-year loan with an interest rate set at just 2 percent.
#Acknowledging that a Chinese company will be the lead contractor, and that Chinese labour always follows where Beijing’s capital goes, he nevertheless promised that the Government will seek to ensure Bahamians “get the best end of the stick” and that local workers outnumber their foreign counterparts on the project. Click here to read more.
