Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn has disclosed that the government is already in the process of drawing up conceptual designs for the new Brickdam Police Station, which was destroyed last year due to fire.
According to the Minister, the project will be another one of the government’s major investments into the security sector and has been included in the $47.9 billion 2022 security budget.
Minister Benn stated on Thursday (27 January 2022), “we already have three concept drawings and we are looking at the foundation and the footprint issues in relation to the building, and then the internal detailing as what we would have in consultation with the police for a new modern Brickdam Police Station, which will take us into the next 30 or 40 years”.
The Minister went on to say that the $400 million budgeted does not represent the final sum that will be spent on the building however it represents an initial sum that is expected to get works underway, according to the Minister, “the foundation work would have to be piled, the design issue it will be a steel structure, there will be a more open concept, the reticulation and those issues would have to be different and modern and also the fire protection. So, this is the first tranche in relation to that investment.”
Additionally, Minister Benn has said that Guyana’s changing economic landscape is one of the main reasons behind the government’s push to bolster the capacity of the emergency services. He noted that the investment of $255 million to procure a hydraulic platform to bolster the Guyana Fire Service’s fire fighting capabilities is just one example of the government’s security enhancement plans.
Minister Benn said, “the reason is of course the landscape in the city is changing rapidly now. We have more high-rise buildings. The use of the hydraulic platform with the hoses on top of them have proven very efficacious in terms of dowsing fires in those types of buildings.” .
In addition to the $614 contract which was awarded in 2021 for the relocation of the Central Fire Station, additional funds have been set aside in Budget 2022 so that works continue as scheduled. Minister Been was keen to explain “that will go a long way in having better placement for the facility, better exiting from their operations because you know what the situation is at Stabroek which we have been able to overcome,” the Minister said.
