The Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr Timothy Thahane, says the sod turning for the construction of a new referral hospital will be in December this year.

The new referral hospital to replace the 1960's Queen Elizabeth II hospital will be situated at Bots'abelo, and "will among other things offer higher level of quality and reliability services at a minimal price", Dr Thahane said.

The Minister told members of the media during a press conference held at the Ministry's boardroom on Wednesday.

Dr. Thahane said replacing Queen Elizabeth II Hospital is an urgent requirement to improve delivery of health services in the country, adding that the new hospital will be constructed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the government and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

IFC, which offered M47 million to the government of Lesotho for the construction of the new hospital is the arm of the World Bank that specialises in private sector operations.

Meanwhile, bids for the new hospital are being evaluated on technical and financial muscles, and that preferred bidder will be announced soon as evaluation is completed, the Minister said.

Source: LENA 31/10/2007