Monrovia – All is said to be on course for the construction of the proposed 14 Military Hospital promised by President George Weah to the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL).
Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr., [email protected]
President George Weah, during this year’s Armed Forces Day celebration in Monrovia, promised the army of Liberia the construction of a 200 hundred bedrooms hospital to be called the 14 Military Hospital.
Authorities of the AFL have announced that the construction of the 200 rooms’ hospital project will be carried out by its engineering battalion.
Assistant Defense Minister for Public Affairs, Sam Collins told FrontPage Africa interview via mobile that all is now set for the project to start.
“Yes, the project has started, and it is the AFL soldiers themselves that are constructing the hospital, we are done with all the requirements by law and the soldiers have started the construction,” he disclosed.
The Public Procurement Concession Commission has also given the project the green light.
Dorbor Jallah, Executive Director and CEO of the PPCC, said the procedural for the project is in compliance with the laws.
“I like to congratulate them for working with us to ensure that they came fully into compliance of the law, we approved their procurement plans, they did the tender process, they did restricted biding according to law, because there are number of large building materials in the country are few, so, it was not necessary to do advertisement,” he said.
“We requested them to invite all building materials companies which they did, they done the tender, they done the evaluation, we have reviewed all they have done and all of it in full compliance with laws.”
The contract is currently before the Ministry of Finance and Justice for signing.
“The procurement for the construction of the 14 Military Hospital is in full compliance, however, AFL has informed us that their engineering battalion will do the construction, the procurement that was done is for the materials for the construction and it is that procurement that has been done and full compliance with the law,” he said noted.
In standard procurement practice, if an institution has the internal capacity to do a specific function, there’s no need putting up biding announcement unless there is an issue of conflict of interest that will prevent them from doing the work themselves.
“The law does allow them to do the construction work, however, the materials that will be used for the construction are not things the AFL or the Ministry of Defense has, so, they have to acquire those from the private sector, in order to acquire that from the private sector they need to past through the PPCC law which the Ministry of Defense has done for the construction of the hospital,” he said.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also declared the site for the 14 Military as environmentally friendly.
EPA Executive Director Nathanial said the AFL has been cleared to carry on the project, adding “we have told them that the area is environmentally friendly.”