Too late to benefit the celebrated prisoner nicknamed ‘Papillon’, subsidiaries of France-headquartered Bouygues Construction will build a new hospital in France’s tropical territory, Guiana, in South America.
DV Construction and Bouygues Energies & Services will build the €85m facility in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, where Henri ‘Papillon’ Charrière was imprisoned in 1933. The memoir of his escape was a bestseller and became a blockbuster Hollywood film.
Bouygues says it wants to establish permanent operations in the French overseas departments of the Antilles and Guiana.Â
The new Western Guiana hospital complex, offering 25,000 m2 of surface area, will consist of five buildings incorporating five operating theatres, a maternity ward and a total of 250 beds.Â
DV Construction is the lead company in the consortium responsible for constructing the hospital, which also involves its subsidiary, GTC Construction, and Ribal TP (Colas Group).Â
Bouygues Energies & Services will carry out the low- and high-voltage electricity package as well as a package consisting of HVAC, plumbing and medical fluids.
Pascal Minault, CEO of Bouygues Entreprises France-Europe, commented: “The construction of this multidisciplinary health facility to high standards will create jobs and it will help improve access to healthcare and the quality of life for the inhabitants of Western Guiana, a region experiencing rapid population growth.”Â
Installation of the site is under way, and works are scheduled to last approximately four years.Â
More than 200 people will be working onsite at peak periods. Bouygues Construction has set goals for social inclusion and local training. It has undertaken to accept young Guianese workers on the site through partnerships with the adapted military service regiment (RMSA) in Guiana and with technical colleges in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni.Â
Photograph: View off the coast of Guiana (Tylda/Wikimedia Commons)
