ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and members of his cabinet will be the first to contribute money to an account being established by the Ministry of Finance towards the construction of a new hospital here.
The new health facility forms part of the government’s Project Polaris, a climate-smart medical city on an 84-acre, state-of-the-art health campus located in Hope Vale, a community located on the southwestern coast of the island.
The government states that it will provide citizens of Grenada with advanced secondary and tertiary services, serving as the epicenter for Grenada’s medical and retirement tourism industries, as well as advanced health sciences research and biotech initiatives.
“I have been asked by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, to convey to you, that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet will lead by example and start this process by donating one month’s salary before the end of 2025 and thereafter one month’s salary in each calendar year, until Project Polaris is commissioned, towards the cost of construction of Project Polaris,” Governor General Dame Cecile La Grenade said during the traditional Throne Speech at the start of a new Parliamentary session on Friday.
She said that the government will also encourage national and diaspora philanthropy towards Project Polaris by opening a special bank account at the Ministry of Finance into which citizens and well-wishers of Grenada can donate towards the construction of the hospital.
The Governor General explained that the gesture from cabinet ministers is being made both as a symbolic and substantive show of their personal and national commitment to this transformative project, and also to encourage citizens, friends, and well-wishers at home and abroad to take ownership of the local hospital and healthcare industry.
“We encourage all our citizens, friends, and well-wishers to contribute whatever they can towards this initiative. Madame President, Mr. Speaker, we will ask the designers of the hospital to include a dedicated space, digital or physical, to honour all donors contributing to this transformative initiative,” she added.
The head of state stated that the preparatory work for the start of construction on Project Polaris is on schedule.
“A master site planner has already been retained to do the site planning for the entire 83 Acres, as we will develop the site into a world class medical city. In this new session of Parliament, my government looks forward to the commencement of construction works on Project Polaris in 2026, including mobilisation and site preparation,” she said.
Government has already launch several initiatives aimed at raising funds to building the new hospital, including establishing a US$25 million saving account at the St. Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB); the allocation of EC$23.6 million (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) in the 2025 national budget as well as approval of EC$405 million in the 2025 Budget Authorisation Act and the announcement from the Egypt-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) that it will fund the project to the sum of US$250 million.
The government is also seeking to raise US$100 million in philanthropic capital grants. It’s unclear whether the latest initiative is part of the philanthropic capital grant initiative.
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