KAMPALA – Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has tasked the Ministry of Health to furnish Parliament with fortnight reports on the Lubowa hospital.
This was after the Minister of Health, Ruth Aceng tabled a report before Parliament revealing that despite the Government having honoured its contractual obligations, the project is being hampered with existing legal dispute filed in the High Court between the Shareholders of the contractor, Finasi Ltd and Roko Construction Ltd.
The Minister said that the crux of the dispute emanates from the disagreement between the parties regarding the proposed admission of a Chinese sub-contractor Power China Guizhou Engineering Co. Ltd to conduct civil works by the Contractor Finasi/Roko SPV Ltd which has been deemed oppressive by the applicant.
The Ministry also assured Ugandans that there exist contractual safeguards and other project controls that will ensure that the interests of government are safeguarded and that the taxpayer shall not suffer loss in case of any eventuality.
Aceng said that all guarantees of payment to the contractor are conditional upon satisfactory completion of works and approval of milestone certificates by the Ministry of Health. Needless to say, there are contractual remedies which may be invoked in the event of default such as recourse to arbitration, indemnification, and termination among others.
It should be recalled that in March 2019, Parliament approved the request by Government to issue promissory notes to a tune of USD379.71Million approximately UGX1.393Trn for the construction of a specialized hospital in Lubowa.
The hospital is set to be constructed on the 32hectare site in Lubowa in Wakiso district will be divided in four zones including clinical, education, recreation and housing zones and will have 54 Oncology beds, 27 infectious disease beds, 27 medical beds, eight ICU beds, as well as 60 outpatient beds, 54 surgery beds, 27 pediatrics beds, 16 intensive Care, 8 neo-natal ICU beds and 11 operating theaters.
