Opposition presents motion of no confidence

The opposition yesterday presented a motion of no confidence in the government over the Mater Dei Hospital saga.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Labour leader Alfred Sant said the opposition allowed some days to pass before replying to the Prime Minister's statement in Parliament on the issue so that people could evaluate the situation.

The party's analysis, he said, confirmed the political and moral breakdown of the government in the sector.

The "cost plus" contract the government had reached with Skanska was a disaster that caused the country to lose millions of liri, he charged.

Dr Sant said this year Lm43 million had been paid to Skanska. Since the project started in 1993, Lm151 million had been paid and the building was still behind schedule.

The motion, signed by Dr Sant, the party's deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Charles Mangion and opposition health spokesman Michael Farrugia, notes the need for the best possible medical services in Malta and a modern general hospital.

It expresses concern at how the government had gone for a design and build contract with Skanska Malta Joint Venture through the Foundation for Medical Services, allowing the expense for the construction of a hospital at tal-Qroqq to shoot up uncontrollably.

The Prime Minister's negotiations, the motion says, came too late, were not transparent enough and left the people short of many millions of liri.

The motion says that the cost of the hospital has gone up from Lm83 million to Lm139 million and it was due to open in mid-2007 instead of in 2003 and 2005 as had been promised.

Although the February 2000 agreement had established fines that had to be paid if the dates set were not met, the company was being let off.

The real global expenditure on the hospital by the end of this year, the motion adds, would have reached Lm151 million and it was expected to go up to at least Lm216 million if the hospital opened in 2007.

The government, in a statement last night, said the agreement reached with Skanska guaranteed value for each lira spent and quality in health care.

The hospital building would cost no more than Lm139 million, a sum agreed following intensive and determined negotiations pursued by the government. The figure was arrived at after the government had assured itself that the hospital, as being constructed, did not cost any more than that. Indeed, Lm25 million had been saved from Skanska's estimate.

The government said the delays had been due to two factors: the Labour government's decision in 1997 to almost double the hospital's capacity to 1,000 beds, which had also substantially raised costs, and a private contractor's contestation of the medical equipment contract, which delayed its award.