EPA waives EIA for Moruca & Lethem Hospital projects

Jul 23, 2025 News

Kaieteur News – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will not be required for the construction of the Moruca Hospital in Region One and the Lethem Hospital in Region Nine.

This is according to two separate notices published in the Sunday, July 20, 2025 edition of the Guyana Chronicle.

According to the public notices, it was determined that the projects will not significantly affect the environment, and is therefore exempted from the requirement to conduct an EIA.

The EPA said its decision is based on the impacts from particulate matter and gaseous emissions from the operation of heavy-duty machinery and the concrete batching plant will be moderate, short-term, and mitigable. The Agency also noted that the air quality will not be significantly affected since particulate matter emissions are short-term and are not expected to exceed WHO standards.

Secondly, impacts of noise and vibration will be moderate and periodic, and noise emissions will occur predominately during construction from equipment and heavy-duty machinery. Notably, EPA stated that noise emissions are not expected to exceed 90 decibels.

“Hazardous and non-hazardous waste generated will not pose a significant risk to human health and the environment. An authorized sanitation waste disposal service will manage and dispose non-hazardous waste during construction in accordance with the Hazardous Waste Management Regulations 2000,” the agency stated.

Additionally, stormwater and sedimentation impact during construction will be localized, short-term and mitigable, and the impact on surface water quality will not be significant since there will be no direct discharge into waterways.

The EPA did advise however, that this decision is in no way an indication that the projects are approved.

Last November, the government turned the sod for the construction of the new Moruca Hospital.

The hospital project which is being executed through the Ministry of Health, will cost $4.435 billion and is being funded through collaboration with the Government and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

It was reported in the media that the proposed 57,210 square feet regional hospital is expected to be constructed during a 24-month timeframe by contractor PCI Sinopharmintl, a consortium.

At Lethem, the sod for the new state-of-the-art hospital was turned in October last year.

The new hospital will be well equipped with 75 in-patient beds, two fully functional operation rooms, a modern ER and procedure rooms, diagnostic imaging services, digital x-rays, portable x-rays, 1 CT machine and three ultrasound machines.

The hospital project was awarded to CMEC- Sinopharmintl Consortium out of China to tune of $6.5 billion.

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EIA, EPA, Lethem Hospital, Moruca

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