The Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic in the implementation of the University Hospital of St. Martin in Martin (UNM), financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, records delays against the approved timetable, especially in the process of public procurement of the contractor, land settlement and authorisation processes.
As Health Minister Zuzana Dolinková said at today's press conference: We already want to point out where the problems are. We must avoid the scenario of Martin becoming Raszochy 2. Personally, on a weekly basis, I will check and do a deduction of what happened on the construction of this hospital. I will not allow the hospital money to be used and returned to Brussels.
The first unsuccessful public procurement can be described as inappropriately selected time management of the project, which has led to market scepticism about the subject matter of the contract and the reluctance of interested parties to risk financial losses due to insufficient project management on the part of the hospital. It was therefore necessary to re-evaluate the project only at the level of the European Commission, where the negotiations approved the possibility of implementing the project by 2028, which allowed a repeat of the procurement to be carried out by the contractor, subject to the supervision and control of the Ministry of Health.
On 24 January 2024, the evaluation committee met, which is currently preparing the final decision. The real time estimate for signing the contract with the contractor is 31.3. 2024. The originally planned deadline (11/2023) was unrealistic by the project team and did not take into account several important procedural steps. The new management has taken action in this regard: audit of the process by an independent legal entity with experience in the issue of v.o. at the stage of objections and explanation of the offer; possibility of setting aside a parallel v.o. for earthworks (SJ/GTK) to use the time window during the evaluation and explanation of the offer of a potential contractor.
Another problem is unsolved land under construction belonging to the Comenius University, Jessenio Medical Faculty (JLF UK) and land of private owners, blocking access to the site. The original intention of the project team to expropriate the land of JLF UK free of charge proved to be unfeasible and therefore expert assessments (UK and UNM) were carried out to determine the estimated market value of the land.

In order to speed up the process of land settlement, on 15.2.024 a public hearing will take place on the process of expropriation of land JLF UKthe result of which will be determined by the next procedure. The expected scenario by the Ministry of Health is the conclusion of a written agreement between the parties and the subsequent transfer of land under UNM. Personal negotiations with private landowners will also be part of the action to remove existing major barriers blocking access to the site.
Director of the hospital Peter Durný: –Unfortunately, despite finding land problems, the previous management did not act. Weak spots are also in the authorisation processes " here has not taken place since the summer of last year."
In the case of authorisation processes, the Ministry informs that the zoning decision for the main building became final on 23.10.2023. All subsequent procedural steps, in particular the building process and the building permit, are directly linked to the land settlement of JLF UK. On 18.1.2024, the health department recommended that the UNM project team submit to the building office of the city Martin documentation for building permission and demonstrate the relationship to the plots concerned. It will also be necessary to carry out a detailed analysis of the authorisation processes and identification of risk points to minimise time slippage as well as to redesign the project team so that its members reflect changes in the current situation of the UNM construction project.
The Ministry of Health provides maximum cooperation to the project team of St. Martin University Hospital.