Contractors have been hired to start work on the new hospital for the political elite in Pretoria.
The national Department of Public Works awarded the contract to the Pretoria-based Keren Kula Construction for the heritage refurbishment of the existing Maroela House to turn it into a VIP medical facility.
Maroela House is in the high-security Bryntirion Estate near the Union Buildings, and includes the official state-owned homes of the president and ministers, as well as VIP guesthouses.
The award was announced in Friday’s Government Tender Bulletin.
The cost of the contract was not specified, but the February national budget documents allocate a total of R62 million for the entire facility.
The department, which is running the contract, has ignored questions from The Star on the Maroela House work for a week, and on work on the Bryntirion complex for two weeks.
The Keren Kula group managing director, Keren Hofman, said she did not know when the contract was due to start and that she could not discuss the contract.
The company has various other government contracts, including a R135m contract to refurbish the military base in Mafikeng; a R191m contract for a new prison in Tzaneen, Limpopo; a treatment centre in Polokwane; offices for the Department of Public Works in the Free State; and a school in Limpopo.
Hofman said the tender was advertised late last year.
The department initially advertised pre-qualifications to bid for the job in February 2009.
The national budget documents for February this year refer to the hospital project as having started three months ago.
“An executive military health facility that will service the president, cabinet, and VIPs from outside countries is also being provided. The project began in January. The total cost of the project is R62m, with an allocation of R13m in 2011/12,” said the Estimates of National Expenditure for this financial year.
According to a statement by cabinet spokesman Jimmy Manyi early this month, the project was planned five years ago.
“The presidential medical unit has been operating from the presidential estate since 1998 to provide medical support to the president, deputy president as well as former presidents and deputy presidents and foreign dignitaries. On occasion it had to treat medical emergencies,” said Manyi.
“The unit has been housed in a caravan ever since. In 2006, a decision was taken to refurbish the facility to ensure that it complies with primary healthcare standards.”
The Presidency has previously said the presidential medical unit was part of the SA Medical Health Service, itself part of the SANDF.
The 2009/10 Department of Defence annual report noted that the unit had provided medical support and healthcare to 1 525 national and international dignitaries and VIPs that year, which was about two-and-a-half times as many as expected.
“The structure of the unit has been analysed, and changes to the structure have been submitted for approval so that the increased demands can be met,” said the report. - The Star