Ball back in Skanska's court

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will summon the Skanska chairman to Malta if there are no further developments in the controversy over the costings of the Mater Dei Hospital in Tal-Qroqq, a spokesman said yesterday.

Last week Dr Gonzi suspended negotiations between the government and the Skanska Malta Joint Venture (SMJV) over costings related to the completion of the new hospital. This had led to SMJV submitting two proposals, which were both refused by the government.

The issue was discussed during a Cabinet meeting on Monday.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said that although the government had decided on its next step, it would wait to see if any developments would emerge in the coming days before proceeding.

A number of aspects related to the completion of the Mater Dei Hospital had been negotiated between the government and Skanska representatives over a span of two months.

During a meeting between the Prime Minister and senior officials from Skanska last week, Dr Gonzi insisted on an explanation and a justification for an increase in the estimate that the construction company was presenting to the Foundation for Medical Services (FMS) for the completion and opening of the hospital.

One of the issues discussed was revealed by Dr Gonzi during a public meeting on Sunday morning when he mentioned that although about 400 doors appeared on the plan, 900 had been ordered.

Providing further explanation, a spokesman for the FMS said that in the pre-design brief the SMJV had said 464 fire doors were needed, with a target value of Lm112,700, or Lm242.88 for every door. However, when the FMS evaluated the proposal in the design phase, it realised that with 464 doors the hospital would not be compliant with international fire safety standards.

When the number of doors was increased to 967 for safety reasons, the cost quoted was Lm585,000 - Lm604.96 per door, or more than twice the first estimate.

When asked, the spokesman said Skanska had misled the FMS and the government about the number of fire doors needed, as well as their cost.

The spokesman explained that the apertures for the 967 doors were already in place but normal wooden doors were initially going to be installed. However, this would have led to the hospital not being compliant with fire safety standards and therefore 503 wooden doors had to be replaced with fire doors.

With regard to the cost of the hospital, the spokesman said the initial estimate of Lm83 million only covered the building and finishing and did not include the cost of the medical equipment, furniture or information technology required by the hospital. Therefore, he said, it was not correct to say, as had been reported in the media, that the cost of the hospital would rise from Lm83 million to about Lm200 million, since the latter figure was all inclusive.