24 May 2007

Marshalls to get new hospital in record expenditure

5:48 pm on 24 May 2007

The largest government-funded project in the history of the Marshall Islands, a new hospital, will be built in the capital, Majuro over the next five years.

The Majuro Hospital administrator, Sandy Alfred, unveiled the plan this week for what is estimated to be a 120-bed hospital.

Our correspodent in the Marshall Islands, Giff Johnson has more.

"About 4.5 million US dollars has been budgetted for the project which is estimated to cost, well the actual cost I don't think has been pinned down, it looks like they are in the 30 million dollar range but has come down significantly as a result of a lot of debate over a proposal for a nearly 40 million dollar facility last year, that was objected to by both other sectors of the government here in Majuro as well as US officials."

Giff Johnson says the existing hospital was built in 1985.