Works on the new US$28 million state-of-the-art, multi-storey Brickdam Police Station are progressing and are approximately 23 per cent completed.
According to information from the Home Affairs Ministry, the foundation works are completed and the steel structure is currently being prepared on site, to be erected.
Works ongoing on the new Brickdam Police Station
Guyana Times was further told that there has been no major challenge with the project, which is on schedule for its July 2026 completion date.
Following a massive fire that destroyed the previous wooden complex in October 2021, a US$28 million contract for a new 12-storey Brickdam Police Station was awarded to local construction company R Basso and Sons Construction in association with the China-based Qing Jian Group Company Guyana Incorporated. Construction work commenced in January following a sod-turning ceremony.
The modern facility will house central departments such as traffic, finance, Impact Base and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and accommodate 2000 personnel. The building’s design also caters for it to be earthquake resistant, with state-of-the-art fire protection and detection systems, advanced Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) monitoring and access control systems, and a telephone and data connection system to provide 24-hour service.
Back in June, Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn and Permanent Secretary Andre Ally had conducted a site visit and at the time, works were eight per cent completed with test piling being done.
At the sod-turning ceremony earlier this year, President Dr Irfaan Ali explained that the build-out of the new station would play a key role in transforming the country’s national security architecture, which aims to ensure Guyanese live in peace and crime rates are low.
“And that is proactive policing and intelligent policing. It is how Police and how the security architecture build a capacity to help the country in developing a culture of living in peace and that is far different from fighting crime. That is proactively engaging community through community initiatives, through community policing, through deploying the intellectual capabilities of our security architecture to infuse in the population a new model of thinking,” the Head of State noted.
Further, all services being accessed at the Police Headquarters at Eve Leary will be moved to the Brickdam Police Station when completed.
According to the Head of State, this will facilitate the development of Guyana’s Police Academy.
“What we want to do is move as much of the services from Eve Leary into this new facility that we’re building here, because we want to free up Eve Leary to be primarily the Police Academy…when I said our prosperity must lead to the Region’s prosperity, this is what I meant. Building our capacity to be leaders not only in Guyana but in the Region so that we have officers, we can have youngsters joining the Police Academy here in Guyana and then working throughout the Region,” President Ali had stated.
The Brickdam Station, which housed the Guyana Police Force’s Police Division 4A Headquarters (Georgetown), was destroyed by fire on October 2, 2021. The fire, which started about 11:06h in the upper flat of an eastern building, spread to several other mainly wooden buildings in the compound, despite the efforts of the Guyana Fire Service.
All the buildings in the compound were completely destroyed, with the exception of the station lock-ups, barracks and Impact Base. In addition, several Police vehicles were slightly damaged, while a number of privately-owned vehicles that were impounded were destroyed or damaged.
All the prisoners who were in custody in the station lock-ups were safely evacuated, and there was no loss of Police or civilian life. A few Police ranks received minor injuries during valiant efforts to save important records, equipment, furniture, and arms and ammunition that were since relocated for safe-keeping, and received medical treatment.
The fire also damaged a business place located in Hadfield Street behind the Brickdam Police Station.
Days later, 26-year-old Clarence Greene, who was in custody at the Brickdam Station for robbery under arms, was subsequently charged and remanded to prison on October 7, 2021 for setting fire to the Brickdam Police Station.
