THE PROJECT chief of the new Nicosia Hospital has resigned, plunging the beleaguered venture into yet deeper crisis with a scathing attack on the “bureaucracy, scandalous behaviour and the rotten mentality” of certain officials.
Construction of the hospital started in 1997 and was initially expected to be complete by mid 2003 at a cost of £67 million; but the cost has skyrocketed to £100 million, and in 2005, officials are still making hopeful predictions of when it will be ready.
A succession of delays, endless modifications and additions has painted a black picture of gross mismanagement of state funds.
The government has launched an inquiry into the scandal with the president going on record saying it was a personal aim of his to get swift results.
But Savvas Kyriacou, who tendered his resignation to Communication and Works Minister Harris Thrasou last week, went out with a bang yesterday, alleging that ministry officials were deliberately stonewalling the project so as to hurt his own career prospects.
Without naming names, Kyriacou’s four-page letter of resignation to the minister said he was forced to walk out because of “bureaucracy, scandalous behaviour and the rotten mentality” of certain officials.
In one example of alleged sabotage, officials of the watchdog department (charged with monitoring expenses) delayed payment to contractors, who in turn refused to continue work.
However, according to Kyriacou, under the terms of their contract, these contractors, even when idle, were still billing the government for various services such as cleaning, guarding the site, and utility expenses such as electricity and water.
All this amounted to accumulating costs of £3,000 a day, or £90,000 a month, Kyriacou said. Add to that the £5 million annual interest paid on the unused capital (some £100 million), and the allegations of mismanagement appear mild.
Meanwhile, the delays have been such that the duration of warrantees and maintenance agreements on equipment is lapsing, which means that by the time the hospital goes operational, any problems will have to be paid from state coffers.
In his bellicose letter, Kyriacou remarked he hoped his resignation would help unearth those guilty for this state of affairs.
Thrasou yesterday tried to depersonalise the matter, saying that completion of the new hospital was paramount. However, media reports speculated that the minister knows exactly which officials were not particularly friendly with Kyriacou, as the two men held a face-to-face meeting recently.
Speaking on CyBC TV, Thrasou said he would today recommend to the Cabinet a candidate as Kyriacou’s successor. Kyriacou himself was appointed project head by the Cabinet back in 1991.
But would the new hospital finish by the end of the year, as pledged by the Health Minister? An architect interviewed by CyBC yesterday was sceptical, offering this thought:
“Where civil servants are involved, anything is possible. The civil service has a lot of muscle, even more than a minister or the President.
“You better believe it,” he added.
