The government is terminating the contract with the contractors of the long-awaited Vincent Moran Health Centre, after a series of missed deadlines that have prevented the centre from opening to the public, health minister Jo Etienne Abela confirmed.
The Paola health centre was due to open in 2021 but, three years on, its doors are still shut, despite works long having been completed and most equipment installed.
But the contractors – the Ergon-Technoline consortium – have yet to provide a series of compliance certificates that are needed for the centre to start operating. These include certificates for lifts, electrical and plumbing works, and health and safety, amongst others, Abela said.
“We’ve given the people carrying out the works enough opportunity to do their job, but now we’ve reached an impasse. We want patients to be seen,” Abela insisted.
€2m in penalties haven’t solved the impasse
Abela said that authorities had tried several approaches to solve the impasse, first through amicable solutions and later using a firmer hand.
He pointed to a series of daily penalties that kicked in back in 2022 and have been ongoing ever since, saying that “there were many deadlines that were missed over the months”. These penalties are now amount to roughly €2m in total, he added.
The straw that broke the camel’s back, Abela said, was the latest missed deadline earlier this week.
“The cut-off date was this week, so the legal mechanisms for termination, which are set out in the contract, will kick off”.
It will now be up to the Foundation for Medical Services, the government entity responsible for the health centre, to find new contractors and secure the necessary compliance certificates, Abela said.
Medical equipment and seating areas in search of patients, at the health centre. Photo: Facebook/Dione Borg
Medical equipment and seating areas in search of patients, at the health centre. Photo: Facebook/Dione Borg
Medical equipment and seating areas in search of patients, at the health centre. Photo: Facebook/Dione Borg
Medical equipment and seating areas in search of patients, at the health centre. Photo: Facebook/Dione Borg
Arbitration soon over, but no opening date yet
Arbitration proceedings between the government and the consortium carrying out works on the centre have been underway for some time, with the two parties disputing payments and penalties imposed.
One of the main bones of contention, Abela said, were disagreements over the contractors’ requests for additional money for works that were carried out.
These proceedings are expected to be completed over the next few weeks, he said.
But Abela stopped short of committing to date by when the centre will finally open, only saying that it will open to patients once compliance certificates are secured.
“This is not a regular small clinic where compliance certificates can be easily obtained. It is a small hospital with complex systems for gases, medicine, electricity, air conditioning and so forth. So it won’t be easy to quickly get certificates in hand. But the government cannot accept any more delays in this project.”
When the centre will finally open still remains a mystery. Photo: Matthew MirabelliMore legal wrangling on the horizon
Abela admitted that that the government’s decision to scrap the contract could lead to more legal wrangling, acknowledging the imminent possibility of the contractor launching a new legal dispute, but said that the government would be pressing on regardless.
“We cannot tell the contractor not to take legal action against us, but we can’t be scared by this and forget that this project took place for the benefit of patients. So there may be legal action but, at the end of the day, we need to serve our patients.”
The government's decision follows recent reports that health authorities had engaged consultants Grant Thornton to explore the repercussions of terminating the contract.
Abela says that the company recommended several "pathways" that could be followed. After discussing the matter with the state advocate, Abela says, the government "will be following the pathways that we believe will bring patients to the project in the quickest way possible".
A project mired in controversy
The government’s move marks the latest twist in the long and convoluted saga that has lasted the best part of a decade.
Initial plans for the health centre never got off the ground because it emerged that the government didn’t have a title to the land on which it would be built.
The project was eventually given the go-ahead in 2017, with authorities promising a €39m investment that would eventually cater for some 130,000 people, saying that the project would open by 2020.
The centre will cater for 130,000 people once it finally opens. Photo: Matthew MirabelliThings quickly took a turn, when the tender process – which initially awarded the project’s construction to a consortium going by the name of SP BB International JV – was found to have been tainted.
The bids were re-evaluated and the project eventually awarded to joint Italian-Maltese consortium called Ergon-Technoline. The latter would later emerge as a key figure in the Vitals inquiry published earlier this year.
Investigators believe that Technoline, which had an exclusive deal to supply Vitals and Steward hospitals with medicines and medical equipment was set to be secretly purchased by Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, amongst others, using government funds fraudulently channeled through the Vitals deal.
Last week, Technoline told MaltaToday that the company "only has a 10% participation on the consortium" and had ordered and received medical equipment for the health centre, with the intention to "commence delivery and installation in situ during February/March 2023".
Delays to the project beyond the company's control meant that this could not go to plan, Technoline said.
"Considering that the rest of the remaining medical equipment is of high value and very sensitive, the site has to 100% ready for installation and so certified by the site Project Managers before installation may begin," a Technoline representative said.