Government has voted to vest the St Joseph Hospital property in a proposed joint venture (“a commercial special purpose vehicle”) between the Government and the UWI Cave Hill Campus for redevelopment of the Ashton Hall, St Peter site.
This was one of only two resolutions jointly debated in the House of Assembly yesterday under Government Business, tabled by Minister of Housing, Lands and Maintenance Dwight Sutherland. The other resolution rescinded the 2012 agreement to lease the hospital to another business concern, American World Clinics Barbados Ltd, a deal which Sutherland said “never got off the ground”.
St Joseph Hospital was closed in 1995.
In the proposed new arrangement, Government will retain 25 per cent of the shares, while the university will hold the other 75 per cent. Sutherland said the planned company to be created through the joint arrangement would ensure that the university could enjoy a measure of “independence”, giving it the opportunity to build its balance sheet by going to the market to float bonds, “thereby taking a strain off Government resources annually”. (GC)
Subscribe now to our eNATION edition for the full story.
For the latest stories and breaking news updates download the Nationnews apps for iOS and Android.