Representative from the Icelandic pension funds and Iceland’s national hospital, Landspítali (LSH), will discuss possible participation of the funds in financing a new hospital building, as confirmed by LSH project manager Jóhanness M. Gunnarsson.
The meeting with the pension funds will take place later this month. After Easter, foreign experts will present ideas on three less expensive construction options, according to a request from director of LSH Hulda Gunnarsdóttir, Fréttabladid reports.
The main Landspítali building is in the front of the photograph. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
“The pension funds participated in the financing of the Hvalfjördur tunnel when it was constructed [in 1998] and we would look at this the same way. So if these ideas fit with what we’re doing, we would consider this an exciting option,” said Arnar Sigurmundsson, chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (LL).
Sigurmundsson emphasized that this in only the first step and that nothing had been decided yet. He added that the new hospital is expected to be constructed in numerous phases. The operations could prove beneficial because the maintenance cost for the old hospital buildings is high.
The initial ideas on a new hospital building estimated that it would cost approximately ISK 70 billion (USD 547 million, EUR 415 million, according to the current exchange rate), but now LSH is hoping to be able to reduce that cost.
In an article by Gunnarsson that was published in Fréttabladid in January, he argued that the operation of the hospital in a new, purposefully-designed building could save between eight and ten percent in operating costs, in addition to saving two to three percent by locating all of LSH’s operations in one building instead of many, as is currently the case.
That would translate to annual savings of ISK 4 to 5 billion (USD 31 to 39 million, EUR 24 to 30 million), Gunnarsson stated.
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