Grenada has secured just about three-quarter of the US$250 million needed to build a new and modern hospital as part of the Polaris project at a site in the south-eastern corner of the island.
Addressing a government-sponsored Town Hall meeting Wednesday night at the Westerhall Secondary School, one of the driving forces behind the project Ambassador Andrea St Bernard said that US$185 million has already been secured for the hospital project.
St Bernard told a packed hall that the Congress government of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has donated $25 million for the project and that most of the rest of the funds have come from the Arab world.
She said that some of the funds set aside for the hospital has come from the sale of passports under the controversial Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme which was initiated in 2013 by the former New National Party (NNP) administration of Keith Mitchell.
According to St Bernard, Grenada was able to secure US$100 million from the Saudi Fund for Development to run over a 25 year period at an interest rate of 1.5% which she referred to as “quite exceptional.”
She also said that the government has been able to secure US$60 million from the OPEC Fund for International Development over 22 years with an interest rate of 1.25%.
In addition, she disclosed that $25 million will be coming from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development to run over a 27-year period at an interest rate of 1.5%.
St Bernard referred to the funds secured for the hospital project as “some of the best debts that we can have on the books.”
She said those in the forefront of Project Polaris were held to “high standards” in raising the funds and taking into consideration that the monies raised had to be in line with the World Bank concessionary rates.
“…So, we have been working very hard to make sure that the finances that we secured (are) the best possible financing that we could find,” she added.
No mention was made of any funds secured for the hospital project from the Afreximbank operating out of Lagos, Nigeria.
Sources told THE NEW TODAY that Grenada was seeking to secure the US$250 million from the African bank but talks broke down over the stiff conditions that were put on the table by Afreximbank.
The new hospital is to be built in the Hope Vale/Calivigny area and will replace the St George’s General hospital.
