Speaking at an Opposition press briefing, Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet questioned the spending around the St. Jude Hospital project.
Outlining the history of the building and the decisions of successive administrations, noting, “The old building is 80 years old, and when it was first built, it was not designed to be a hospital. It was during World War Two that the US military made it into a hospital. And as you remember, in 2009, September 9, to be exact, there was a catastrophic fire that destroyed that building.”
According to Chastanet, the Stephenson King administration spent around $30 million attempting repairs, followed by $110 million under Kenny Anthony’s leadership. He added that the current administration has reportedly committed an additional $270 million, bringing the total to roughly $400 million over 11 years. He argued that the hospital would be “outdated and antiquated the moment it opens.”
Chastanet compared the $400 million cost to the estimated cost of building the new Hewanorra International Airport terminal, which included jetways, an access road to the second floor, a new tarmac, and an air traffic control tower.
Chastanet described his administration’s previous plan to build a state-of-the-art hospital to drive growth in the south.
“We spent $130 million and that was in our five year term.” he said, noting it was interrupted by COVID-19 for two years.
The proposed facility was designed with over 150 beds and a helicopter pad and would have been “20% bigger than OKEU,” housing both an international hospital and a local hospital. The old building, he said, would have been converted into a university and nursing school.
“We wanted to invest in the future, not the past.”
He raised concerns about the cost to citizens.
“Who is going to be responsible for paying that bill? It’s the people of Saint Lucia. $400 million just for the old building and if you want to include our new building (the building he started), over a half a billion EC dollars.”
Chastanet noted that “we all need to keep a very close eye on” on this project and has expressed that hope was “destroyed… in the south.”
