Conceptual rendering of Project Polaris hospital campus layout (early 2026) showing main hospital block on the western bank of the river at Calivigny, St George. Image: Project Polaris
by Nisha Paul
- Geotechnical assessments informed location of hospital on eastern side of property
- November targeted for start of major earthworks
- Appointment of main contractor expected by new year
- Construction to take approximately 3 years
Geotechnical assessments have prompted a change in the location of Grenada’s planned 250-bed hospital, with Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell saying the decision to build on the former Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) Grenada Office site.
“We’ve settled on the site where CARDI is,” Mitchell said, explaining the latest modification to the hospital development plan. “The western side of the land facing the river would require significant piling if we were to build on that site, whereas the eastern side requires no piling. So, on that basis alone, the cost of construction has come down significantly because of that. I think once all of the geotechnical work was done, we took the advice of the technical people and they recommended that we use that site.”
The proposed climate-smart hospital is part of Project Polaris, which involves 84 acres of land that the Dickon Mitchell-led administration purchased in November 2023 for the development. The project’s official groundbreaking took place on 27 March 2026, when the Prime Minister said construction is expected to take about 3 years.
CARDI serves agricultural research and development of 12 Caricom member countries, and began its operations in Grenada in 1982, occupying about 6.5 acres. The local office has since been temporarily relocated to La Sagesse in St David.
The government says it has secured US$185 million in financing for the hospital, with an estimated project cost of US$250 million, but it has not yet selected a main contractor. According to the Prime Minister, the contractor selection process must comply with conditions attached to the project’s financing, stressing that the availability of funds does not permit the government to bypass procurement requirements established by its financing partners.
The Prime Minister explained that lenders require assurances that the procurement process is “transparent” and delivers “value for money.” “For example, some of the funders would want you to advertise the bids for a certain period of time… so we’re going through that process, and we’re expecting that by the new year we would actually have the main contractor in place to commence the work.”
The government is targeting November to begin major earthworks.
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