By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government is in “very advanced negotiations” to move the Ministry of Health into two former insurance buildings in the Palmdale area, a Cabinet minister confirmed yesterday.

Dr Duane Sands, minister of health, told Tribune Business that the former CLICO (Bahamas) property on Mount Royal Avenue and ex-Colina Insurance building on Rosetta Street were being eyed as the ministry’s new locations as it seeks to escape the “10 waterfalls” that occur whenever it rains at its existing Meeting Street premises.

He added that the Government was looking at two separate locations as “the best fit given the size of the Ministry as there is no single commercial property that fits us”.

This further indicates that the Minnis administration has no desire to move into the former Kelly’s Warehouse building on Soldier Road, for which the Government signed an irrevocable lease to house the Department of Public Health in 2014. It is currently embroiled in a multi-million dollar legal dispute over that contract with the property’s landlord, Kingman Ingraham.

“The negotiations are very, very far advanced,” Dr Sands told this newspaper over the two former insurance properties. “The issue is neither building is ready for occupancy. These buildings have not been occupied for a while and they will have to be made whole or ready for us to into. Quite frankly, I don’t know when that work will be done or completed.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of discussions about what the ask is, but when the work will be done, I don’t know. We’ll soldier on. We’ve been prepared to leave for many months now and the decision has been made, I’m certain, that this is where we’re going to go. The issue is making the space fit for moving in, given the work the Ministry does, making leasehold improvements and so forth.”

The Government will have to negotiate the leases, and associated improvements, with CLICO (Bahamas) liquidator, Craig A. ‘Tony’ Gomez, and Colina Insurance Company for the former Canada Life headquarters on Rosetta Street.

The Ministry of Health, together with the Ministry of Public Service, is currently a tenant of the National Insurance Board (NIB) at the latter’s Meeting Street property. “The fundamental issue is that the Meeting Street property is badly in need of repair,” Dr Sands told Tribune Business.

“They have decided that their building needs a complete overhaul and will not provide for us to stay in the building while the work is being done. It’s that bad. There’s a leaking roof, there are A/C issues, ventilation issues. The carpet needs to be sorted out. There’s a plethora of problems with that building.

“It is owned by NIB so they made the assessment that despite the works done immediately after Hurricane Matthew that the roof is still leaking. It’s still a problem that whenever you have rain you have got a waterfall in 10 places in the building,” the minister continued.

“The bottom line is that it was determined a long time ago we had to get out. It’s just a matter of time as to when we’re going to move. There were concerns about a disproportionate level of illness among the staff whether or not it was the case. It requires significant attention.”