Work finally began on a new Police station for Hamilton this week.

The much-delayed project, at the junction of Court Street and Church Street, has been in the pipeline since 2002. Cabinet gave it the green light a year ago.

Minister of Public Safety David Burch said yesterday: "The contractor moved on site (on Monday) rather quietly, Landmark Lisgar. I'm not the employer of that contractor so I can't quite explain why they did it quietly but having done it quietly the world can now see that it's actually happened so I took advantage of the opportunity to advise the Police service that we had in fact started - having had a number of delays this year."

Lt. Col Burch said excavation of the site is being carried out by a subcontractor.

The current Police station on Parliament Street has been condemned as unfit for use. During the budget debate in March, Government MP Wayne Perinchief said $58.5 million was set aside for the new one. He admitted that the main expenditure on the project was four years late.

The complex will total 106,000 square feet on five floors including one underground level. At one stage a plan to expand the project to include a new Supreme Court complex was mooted, but that has since been ruled out.

Lt. Col. Burch remained tightlipped yesterday on when the project will be completed or when the contract was signed. He referred questions to the Ministry of Works and Engineering, which had not answered them by press time. Landmark did not respond to a request for comment.