By Kassim Omomia, Executive Editor
..As Project Contractor,Julius Berger , set to deliver Hospital 2022.
President Muhammadu Buhari has executed the ground-breaking and foundation laying ceremony for the construction of a new Presidential hospital at an event, which held at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari represented the President and Commander-in-Chief at the event, which was also attended by several key officials of the Presidency including the Permanent Secretary, State House, Umar Tijjani.
Speaking at the ceremony which took place at the project site within the Presidential Villa, Permanent Secretary in the State House, Mr Tijjani,said Julius Berger ,which also built the Presidential Villa itself, will construct the new Presidential Clinic, beginning from November 1, 2021, and complete ,delivered it for commissioning on December 31, 2022.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Professor Ibrahim Gambari who stood in for the President said upon laying the foundation for the hospital: “Now let the construction work begin.”
The Presidential Clinic will cover a total area of 2,700 square meters and it will contain an underground area, two number Operating Theatres, two number Executive Suites, two VIP suites, and isolation centres in the building. There will also be a Laboratory, Healing Garden, Pharmacy and high tech X-ray facility in the hospital when completed.
Umar Tijjani had earlier said, “The project was conceived in 2012 by previous administration and the brief was produced…The President has approved the project. We have gone to Bureau of Public Procurement to get Certificate of No Objection”. He had also said that Julius Berger Nigeria Plc was chosen as the contractor for the project because the reputable construction company built the State House and have been maintaining it since 1990, adding that JBN, as Nigerians generally fondly call the company, has done an impressive work of maintaining the State House.
The new Presidential hospital strategically located inside the Presidential Villa is designed and planned to cater for the medical needs of the First Family and key officials of the Government. According to Umar Tijjani, the hospital will also attend to the medical needs of other African leaders. The Julius Berger delegation to the ceremony was led by the company’s executive director of administration, Alhaji Zubairu Ibrahim Bayi ably supported by the Regional Manager for the Abuja operations of the company, Engr. Oliver Berger and others.