Apenisa Waqairadovu 
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says it was a practice to allocate money in the budget for infrastructure upgrades, but in the past years this has not happened.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has made a proposal to cabinet on how the Colonial War Memorial Hospital could be improved alongside other rundown infrastructure.
He said it was common practice to allocate money in the budget for infrastructure upgrades, but this did not happen over the past few years.
The PM said his proposal is with cabinet, and it is at the discretion of the Finance Minister to implement it.
“There used to be a practice of allocating about 10 percent of the total cost of government infrastructure for renovation and repairs every year. A budget was established to account for the value of buildings and facilities. That is no longer the practice now, but the Minister for Finance may want to reintroduce that concept.”
Rabuka said poor planning has contributed to the lack of maintenance.
“A lot of those things that are now dilapidated are coming to the end of their life term anyway, and we should have been ready for it a long time ago.”
The Health Ministry was allocated $540 million in the current financial year.
Ever since the dire condition of the CWM Hospital came under the spotlight, a number of organizations have stepped in to help.
This includes a partnership with Australia to develop a comprehensive Master Plan for CWM Hospital.
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