95% Progress on Lakan Hospital; Serious Determination to Secure Funding and Complete Gilan's Only General Hospital

Gilan Governor, noting that the 421-bed Lakan Hospital in Rasht is 95% complete, said securing financial resources and removing executive obstacles are essential for the project, and stressed that the completion of Gilan's only general hospital must be accelerated by leveraging national and provincial capacities.

According to the report of Ambassador Arjan Gilan Hadi Haqshanas, in the meeting to review the latest status of the construction of the 421-bed Lakan Hospital in Rasht, which was held in the presence of Ali Nuzarpour, Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and CEO of the Executive Organization of Public and Government Buildings and Facilities, contractors and representatives of executive bodies, he emphasized the need to accelerate the final stages of this project. Stating that Lakan Hospital has reached 94-95% physical progress, he said: This project is in the final stages and the necessary conditions for its completion should be provided by providing credit on time, removing implementation obstacles and coordination between the responsible institutions.

The floating population has doubled the medical needs of Gilan. Referring to the lack of hospital infrastructure in Gilan, the high representative of the government in the province added: In addition to the resident population, this province hosts millions of travelers and tourists every year, and the presence of this floating population puts additional pressure on the medical centers. Therefore, completing the hospital is a necessity for the province. Haqshana said: On the one hand, this hospital will respond to the medical needs of the people of the province, and on the other hand, it will increase the capacity of the Gilan health system to provide services to travelers and tourists. Therefore, the allocation of credit to this project should be done with a special view and according to its strategic importance. Appreciating the follow-ups of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development, the Executive Organization of Public and Government Buildings and Facilities, and the representatives of the people of the province in the Islamic Council, especially the representatives of Rasht city, he said: The coordinations made have led to the proper progress of the project and now all capacities must be used to complete the remaining five percent.

Each day of delay increases the cost of completing the project. The governor of Gilan considered the prolongation of the implementation time of construction projects as one of the main factors of the increase in costs and stated: the increase in the price of materials, equipment and exchange rate increases the finished cost of the projects continuously, and the continuation of this process causes dissatisfaction of the employer, contractor and people. Pointing to the start of operational operations of Lakan Hospital since 2013, he added: the prolongation of the project implementation process and the increase in costs have exceeded the contractor's demands from the initial estimates; Therefore, by using all the legal, credit and executive capacities, the required resources should be provided and the imposition of more costs should be avoided. Haqshanas emphasized: any delay, in addition to increasing project costs, will also delay people's benefit from this important medical infrastructure; Therefore, providing financial resources and removing the remaining obstacles should be seriously put on the agenda of the responsible institutions. Ministry of Road's follow-up to remove obstacles and provide resources. In the continuation of this meeting, Ali Nuzarpour, Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development and CEO of the Executive Organization of Public and Government Buildings and Facilities, considered Lakan Hospital as one of the important infrastructure projects of Gilan's health sector and said: The implementation process of this project is continuously being visited and reviewed, and the removal of obstacles is being followed up with the cooperation of the responsible institutions.

He added: Using the resources foreseen in the budget, bank facilities and additional financing capacities can speed up the project implementation process and the necessary follow-ups will be done to direct these resources to the final stages of hospital construction. The Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development also emphasized on determining the task of ancillary infrastructure and providing suitable conditions for the continuation of the contractors' activities and said: By strengthening the coordination between the executive bodies and providing the required resources, the implementation of the remaining parts of the project can be accelerated. In this meeting, the latest status of the project's physical progress and financial resources, the provision of medical equipment, the access road, the intersection of Lakan Road and the hospital parking lot were reviewed and necessary decisions were made to accelerate the implementation of the remaining sections.