PLANS for a replacement police station in Hamilton have hit further delays — despite fresh health concerns being raised at the existing facility.In February, Government announced that work on the new station and adjoining Magistrates’ Court would finally begin this month — six years after plans for a new station were first unveiled.

But while the site on the junction Victoria and Church Streets has been cleared, no date has been set for the bulldozers to move in.

Earlier this year Works & Engineering Permanent Secretary Derrick Binns confirmed that the project had been put out to tender and that prospective site managers were being selected for interview.

But when contacted by the Mid-Ocean News this week, Dr. Binns was unable to give any details about the construction timeline.

“The process is ongoing and it is a very active project, although I don’t have a date as to when something will be on the ground,” Dr. Binns said.

“The Minister will be able to give a more detailed response nearer the time.”

Works & Engineering Minister Dennis Lister did not respond to e-mailed questions by press time last night.

The existing police station was condemned in an independent study, released last month, which discovered high counts of mould throughout the Parliament Street building.

“Overall, the Hamilton Police Station is in a state of poor repair,” Bermuda Water Consultants Ltd. concluded.

That report followed criticisms last year from an H.M. Inspectorate of Constabulary team which claimed that the building contained so many hazards that officers were at risk of serious injury. The findings prompted the Bermuda Police Association to demand that a new station be “top of the list” of Government’s priorities.

Government first announced plans for the new station in 2001, and set aside $11 million for the project in the February 2002 Budget when it expected tenders to go out by the summer of that year.

Then-Public Safety Minister Terry Lister said at the time that the new police station was a long-standing Progressive Labour Party pledge.

“We were appalled by the state of conditions in the Magistrates’ Court and in Hamilton Police Station, which used to be a prison and it’s very similar to one now,” he said.

A year later, then-Works & Engineering Minister David Burch said he hoped construction work would begin by the summer of 2003.

Further pledges were made in the 2004 Budget, when Finance Minister Paula Cox claimed that “Government regards public safety as a key policy priority”.

In March 2005, then-Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton assured the public that work would begin that year, with $39.5 million in funding set aside for construction.

And in her 2006 Budget statement, Ms Cox once again said that work would begin imminently, adding that ground was expected to be broken in May of that year.

Then, in February of this year Ms Cox announced that work on the new station would begin in June.

“The maintenance of law and good order is essential for our stability and our economy,” Ms Cox said in her Budget statement.

“Without this, we are at risk of threatening our internal security and economic well-being. Mr. Speaker, as we provide the necessary resources to the Bermuda Police Service we also acknowledge and thank them for the job they perform.”

No sign of start on new station