VAMED Engineering has renewed allegations that the government failed to pay for certified work on the unfinished Paediatric and Maternal Hospital and allowed its British-backed financing to expire, issuing a statement today to coincide with King Charles III’s arrival in Guyana.
The Austrian contractor called for explanations from President Irfaan Ali, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony and Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh over the handling of the project, which is now the subject of international arbitration.
The government has previously rejected VAMED’s account, maintaining that persistent delays, inadequate mobilisation and contractual non-compliance prompted its decision to terminate the contracts for both the maternal hospital at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara, and the New Amsterdam Hospital Campus.
In its latest statement, VAMED alleged that VIKAB, the government-appointed contract engineer, had issued Interim Payment Certificates for completed construction work, but the Ministry of Health failed to process the necessary payment authorisations.
The company said British-backed financing was available at the time and that Guyana remained within the loan repayment grace period.
VAMED maintained that it continued financing construction from its own resources for more than a year despite prolonged nonpayment. Senior executives repeatedly travelled to Guyana and proposed solutions to keep the project going, it said.
It further alleged that the government allowed the financing agreement to expire in November 2025 without renewing it or informing the company, even as efforts continued to resolve the impasse.
“There is much more to this story than the public has been told,” VAMED’s institutional representative in Guyana, João Pedro Teles, said in the statement.
The company questioned why the government continued demanding construction work and contractual concessions while the financing needed to pay for the work remained unresolved.
VAMED urged journalists to seek the certified payment certificates, payment-processing records and correspondence concerning the expiration of the financing agreement from the relevant ministries.
The latest statement follows the company’s disclosure in July that its contractual claims amounted to €45.53 million, including at least €19.15 million in certified payments. According to Kiskadee Watch’s reporting at the time, VAMED said its last payment had been received in May 2025 and linked the slowdown in construction to nonpayment and the loss of export-credit backing.
The government disputed the suggestion that payment certificates established an uncontested debt. It said the amounts remained subject to valuation, contractual provisions, rights of set-off and other unresolved issues. It also maintained that financing arrangements could not be considered separately from the contractor’s performance and that VAMED had been given repeated opportunities to remedy deficiencies.
President Ali confirmed in August that both contracts were terminated on July 23 and that International Chamber of Commerce arbitration proceedings commenced on July 28.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC subsequently said the government was seeking to enforce performance bonds of approximately €15 million for each contract. According to an August 19 Department of Public Information report, he maintained that termination did not mean the hospitals had been abandoned and that the government was taking steps to protect public assets and secure their eventual completion.
The dispute has also reached the local courts. Kiskadee Watch reported on September 25 that the Full Court had set aside orders requiring the preservation of the two construction sites and restricting interference with 52 containers and equipment at the Goedverwagting site.
The hospital’s construction had fallen behind schedule well before the contracts were terminated. Stabroek News reported in February that Anthony attributed some delays to changes in VAMED’s ownership and management. He told the National Assembly that government engineers and company representatives were working on revised plans and completion schedules.
President Ali turned the sod for the hospital on July 31, 2022. Originally projected for completion around August 2024, the 256-bed facility was designed as a level-five national referral centre providing specialised maternal and paediatric care, neonatal intensive care and advanced diagnostic services.
While yesterday’s statement describes the British-supported investment as approximately €160 million, earlier reporting placed the maternal hospital’s construction contract at €149 million and the New Amsterdam contract at €150 million.
VAMED also directed questions to King Charles and British High Commissioner Joseph Fisher about the explanations they had received concerning the project and whether the dispute could affect confidence in future British-backed investment.
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