Giff
Johnson RNZ Pacific Marshall Islands
correspondent
The
Marshall Islands government is gearing to spend US$160
million for new hospitals at Majuro and Ebeye, the two
cities in this western Pacific nation.
Marshall
Islands Finance Minister David Paul said funding is now
secured, with the plan to spend $100m for Majuro hospital
and $60m for Ebeye’s new facilities. Majuro has a population
of about 20,000 and Ebeye about 9000.
Although some
earlier estimates suggested the cost could run as high as
$200m or more for both facilities, Paul said the $160m has
been endorsed by government as the cap for the two projects
combined.
“For $100 million we’re not going to get a
coconut hut,” Paul said in an interview last
week.
Majuro hospital’s first phase – a new surgical
ward – was completed in 2019. But while funding for other
phases was available at the time, the hospital plan became
mired in bureaucratic red tape, preventing further
construction.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be
a major player in the hospital redevelopment plan for the
Marshall Islands.
For Majuro hospital, ADB will
provide a $50m concessional low-interest loan and $10m in
grants, while the $40m balance will be funded by carry-over
funding from the second Compact of Free Association’s
funding package, which ended in 2023 but with leftover
infrastructure funds that can still be used, Paul
said.
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Meanwhile, for Ebeye, an ADB grant of $27m will
be combined with $33m from the Kwajalein Development Fund
that is capitalised by US funding in the Compact to support
the project.
The ADB is beginning a preliminary
assessment for Ebeye hospital, while a design firm was hired
earlier for Majuro hospital and has already started work,
Paul said.
“ADB will manage both projects,” Paul said.
“The money is there.”
He pointed out that the $50m
concessional loan from ADB for Majuro hospital comes with a
10-year grace period during which only annual interest of
$300,000 per year is repaid.
A 30-year payback period
for the overall loan will follow the grace period with about
$1.7m per year in debt payments to ADB.
“It’s
manageable,” Paul
said.
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