CLAIMS that the construction of a new Hamilton police station has been delayed because of the special nature of the project have been condemned as implausible. On Wednesday, Public Safety Minister David Burch refused to say when work on the project — promised every year since 2002 — would begin, saying that “no one in this country has ever built a building of this nature that requires certain specific features not necessary in a typical office building”.

Sen. Burch added that Government was “duty-bound to ensure that all bases are covered in advance so that construction can eventually proceed expeditiously”.

But yesterday Opposition Leader Michael Dunkley said the delayed project was another example of Government breaking its promises and failing to deliver.

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. That promise was repeated earlier this year, when Ms Cox predicted that work would begin in June.

The current station has been condemned by independent experts on a number of occasions in recent years.

Mr. Dunkley said “I don’t find the Minister’s in the least plausible. This Government is continuing to make promises and yet each year we’re not much further along.

“Many people are concerned about crime and drugs, gangs and the behaviour of people on the roads and if you want the police to feel confident and have high morale and perform to the best of their ability at the very least you have to provide the facilities for them to get on with the job.

“I think it’s abysmal that Government has continued to make these promises. I think the people need to look at the number of promises that have been made and then broken over and over again.”

Mr Dunkley also pointed out that delays are causing the cost of the new facility to continually increase.

“The longer we wait, the worse things get and the higher the cost,” he said.

“The budget for the station is now $60 million — ten years ago when this was first put together the budget was half that price.

“There are a number of other projects that have still to get started — the causeway, the new hospital, Tynes Bay — and given this Government’s inability to deliver building projects on time and on budget, this is a scary proposition.

“Such inaction isn’t only hurting the police service, it’s hurting the people of Bermuda.

This is a Government that has repeatedly failed to deliver and I think people should look at those promises that are being made, those that are being broken, and the promises that the United Bermuda Party will keep as we move forward.”

Police station