Hospital contractor’s ‘unreal’ demand

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Averoff Neophytou yesterday said that the Nicosia hospital contractor’s demand for an almost five-year extension of the delivery deadline would be examined, although initially his claims seemed “unreal”.

Reports yesterday said that the contractor was asking for a 288-week extension — effectively pushing the delivery of the new hospital to August 2007.

The hospital was expected to be finished by February this year but the date changed to June 2003 in order to give the contractor time to complete several changes that had been decided upon.

Neophytou told the Sunday Mail that the contractor now claimed that he had been thrown off schedule by the changes and that he needed more time.

But according to the minister every week of delay could cost the taxpayer up to £40,000.

“It is not the first time we have seen such behaviour and demands,” Neophytou said.

“For us the deadline is June 2003.”

Neophytou said, however, that the contractor had every right to ask for an extension although in this case his claims initially seemed “unreal”.

His demands will be examined by the appropriate bodies, Neophytou said.

The hospital was initially estimated to cost around £37 million, but sor far it has reportedly cost around £39 million.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.