The government’s budget for its public hospital project in Cotai, officially known as Cotai Health Complex, has already reached at least 9.8 billion patacas – although the mammoth sum does not include the construction of two still unscheduled buildings in the complex, as well as the cost of buying and installing the medical equipment following the completion of the whole project, Ella Lei Cheng I, who heads the legislature’s Follow-up Committee for Land and Public Concession Affairs, has quoted government officials as saying.
According to previous media reports, the whole Cotai hospital project was initially budgeted at 10 billion patacas.
Briefing reporters after a closed-door meeting of the committee last Friday, Lei also said that even if the several main buildings of the project – including a general hospital – have been completed by August 2022 as scheduled, the hospital could only be up and running after 2023 as it would take the government at least a year to carry out a raft of administrative and preparatory tasks prior to the hospital’s operational start, such as the final green light for the completed buildings and the installation of medical equipment.
Lawmaker-cum-unionist Ella Lei Cheng I (right), who heads the legislature’s Follow-up Committee for Land and Public Concession Affairs, and lawmaker-cum-civic leader Becky Song Pek Kei, the committee’s secretary, pose for a photo before briefing reporters about a closed-door meeting of the committee about the latest progress of the Cotai hospital project. Photo: Tony Wong
