Opinion

The London Bridge of Negombo

08 Jun 2015 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ny concerned person would have been aghast to hear the order by the health authorities to evacuate the patients from the not so old seven-storey Negombo General Hospital building over concerns that the structure is unsafe.
On May 30 the authorities moved patients from the main building of the hospital to adjacent buildings within the hospital premises, halting all routine admissions.
These safety concerns were raised after the Atomic Energy Authority and the Moratuwa University undertook an initial assessment following complaints of flaws in the building over the years including cracks, weak concrete slabs and water seepage, according to news reports.

No doubt, it was a wise decision to evacuate the patients if the building had become a death-trap for them, but the authorities did not seem to be concerned about who was responsible for this dangerous situation.
The building is said to be only 15 years old, a relatively very short period for it to show such flaws. It is obvious that the company or the institution that undertook the construction of the building has to take the responsibility for this massive waste of public funds in case of demolition and rebuilding of the building.

Going by the attitude of many authorities in the Public Sector, the authorities in this case might award not only the contract for the demolition of the building, if needed but also the contract for the rebuilding of it to the same institution that had constructed the original building, since these things are in most cases shady deals involving friendships and kickbacks.
This eight-storey building might be the largest structure under a Government Department that had gone to rack and ruin in a relatively very short period of time.
Shouldn’t anyone be held accountable for this massive fraud? There must be a time-bound guarantee for the strength of any building and the contractor has to be held responsible in case of a breach of such contractual agreements.

Even if there is no time-bound guarantee clause in the contract for a building it is public knowledge that a building of this magnitude cannot show cracks and become dangerous to use especially by invalid persons within 15 years.
Had an untoward incident occurred before the evacuation of the patients it would have been one of the most ghastly tragedies in the county’s history.
Therefore, all those involved in the construction of this building have to be held responsible in a manner that they compensate the State coffers not only for the loss incurred by the government but also for putting the lives of hundreds of patients in danger.

If not, very soon Sri Lanka will see many public buildings that are crumbling like sand castles, as is happening in Bangladesh, where several buildings have collapsed recently, while hundreds of people were in them.
The construction industry in Sri Lanka is in a mess. Fraud and duplicity are inextricable elements in it whether the construction involves a public building or a private one, whether it is a small hut or a huge mansion. There are no adequate training facilities in the country for the workers such as masons engaged in the construction work.
When it comes to the Public Sector construction, corruption works hand in glove with this lack of professionalism and leading to issues such as the one involving the Negombo hospital now.
This is an area that has to be looked into as an urgent matter and the authorities have to prepare short-term as well as long-term plans to address the issue.

Opinion

The London Bridge of Negombo

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