- washingtontimes.com
VIVAnews – The construction of Indonesia Hospital (RSI) in Gaza, Palestine is nearing to be completed. Chairman of MER-C's Presidium, Jose Rizal Jurnalis, said the first work is almost 80% completed.
“The first stage of RSI Gaza construction is almost done,” he told VIVAnews, Thursday, Jan 26.
He said that if no significant hurdles get in the way, then the structural work will be completed in 2 months. Jose Rizal acknowledged that while some sections are complete, the first-stage construction of RSI Gaza should have been worked out by February..
“However, we dealt with many obstacles in the field which had delayed the construction project,” he said. “It is very normal, as doing construction work in a conflicting zone is not easy.”
Since the beginning of the hospital’s construction, problems seemed to have surrounded the project. “The difficulties vary from getting volunteers to enter Gaza to start the construction and to getting the needed materials collected as they must be supplied through tunnels,” he said.
“Moreover, the Gaza is not secure because of the non-stop attacks from the Israelis that caused the construction work to be temporarily halted many times.”
However, he said, the volunteers didn’t give up.
“It is really unimaginable that the work which felt like a dream in the beginning is progressing so far,” said Jose Rizal.
He said that from a far, the RSI Gaza has an octagonal shape similar to Qubbah Sakhra in Masjid Al-Aqsha. “The building can be seen standing upright.”
The Indonesia hospital was built with the assistance of the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C) on a piece of waqf land located in Bayt Lahiya, North Gaza.
The cornerstone was laid by the Chairman of the House of Representatives on June 29, 2010. The Rp13 billion fund to build this 60x60 meter hospital was provided by Indonesians.
