Puerto Rico finally starts reconstruction of US$85mn Vieques hospital

After more than a year’s delay, the Puerto Rican government officially started reconstruction of the US$85mn Vieques hospital, which is designed to replace a facility damaged by a hurricane.

During the ceremony, governor Pedro Pierluisi brushed off criticism of the delay and said more time was required to properly plan the design and construction of the hospital. 

“It was planned and it was designed in the right way, not something of bad quality just to muddle through. We are designing things like they should be designed,” he said. 

The reconstruction work is due to take approximately two years and have three stages, Pierluisi said, with the first concluding next September. The second, which will include an emergency room, will end in April 2025. The last stage will include the construction of a building for doctors’ appointments and will finish at the end of 2025, according to the plans. 

The project’s first stage has been delayed multiple times due to the complexity of the works and bureaucracy involved in receiving funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), health minister Carlos Mellado said in August last year. FEMA will provide US$39.6mn of the total, while the rest will come from the Puerto Rican government. 

In December last year it was announced that work on the project would begin in January but the contract to rebuild the hospital – awarded to Caribe Tecno CRL – ended up being signed in February. 

The old Vieques hospital was closed in 2017 due to structural damage caused by Hurricane Maria and was demolished in May last year.