The San Pedro General Hospital project promised by the Government of Belize (GOB) is closer to materializing after signing a contract for its design, construction, and equipment in the Capital City of Belmopan on Friday, February 16th.
Present at the monumental occasion was the Area Representative for Belize Rural South (Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker), Honourable Andre Perez, San Pedro Town Mayor Gualberto’ Wally’ Nuñez, Prime Minister Honourable John Briceño, along with Minister of Health and Wellness Honourable Kevin Bernard. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is funding the project, and representing the Taiwanese government was the Ambassador to Belize, Her Excellency Lily Hsu, the General Manager of the Taiwan Overseas Engineering and Construction Company (OECC), James Hsiao, among other technical personnel from both the company and Embassy.
The contract for the hospital’s construction, valued at a little over US$16,678.680 million, was signed by Prime Minister Briceño and OECC’s General Manager Hsiao. Facilitated by the Taiwanese government, this grant will see Belize’s prime tourism and real estate destination with a modern and adequately equipped public hospital. Perez shared that the structure would provide over 200 jobs for the island community of San Pedro. He explained that his team has worked closely with the central government and Taiwan representatives on the hospital’s planning over the past months. He said the process may seem delayed, but it is for the better, as they want to do things right from the get-go.
Prime Minister Briceño expressed his gratitude to the Taiwanese government for their generosity on behalf of the Belizean people. “This will allow us to finally build this general hospital that will serve San Pedro and Caye Caulker,” he said. “This is something that successive governments have been talking about for many years, but now is finally becoming a reality,” Briceño added that the announcement of the contract’s signing is not for political mileage as Municipal Elections are fast approaching. He said getting suitable designs for the hospital was a careful and lengthy process.
The Taiwanese Ambassador, Hsu, was also excited about the anticipated signing of this contract. She hopes to see the project soon complete and serve its purpose of helping the people and visitors of Ambergris Caye.
The hospital will be located south of San Pedro Town. The first steps to seal the deal started in January 2023 by signing a memorandum of Understanding between Taiwan and Belize. Then, in April of that year, the hospital design was revealed during the visit of former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen to Belize. A date for the ground-breaking of the project is yet to be announced but is expected in the coming weeks.
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