WESTERN BUREAU:
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has come under a torrent of criticism from construction and engineering interests for claiming that Jamaica lacks the technical expertise to handle major renovation projects such as the three-year-long rehabilitation of Cornwall Regional Hospital.
The Jamaica Institution of Engineers (JIE) and the major umbrella group of construction stakeholders have slammed the minister as misguided, with one expert deeming Cornwall “a messy, messy project” that had all the hallmarks of bad planning and cavalier spending.
Don Mullings, managing director of M&M Construction, the firm that carried out repairs to the roof of the 400-bed Type A hospital, considers offensive the minister’s characterisation of contractors as being out of their depth. He argues that contractors cannot deliver outside their mandate.