LITTLE LONDON, Westmoreland – The delay-plagued $200-million Anchovy Police Station in St James will be open within a year, the National Housing Trust (NHT) has promised. According to National Security Minister Horace Chang, the one-year delay was caused by the magnitude of the project and the need to follow established procedures.

“That station is a little bit bigger and, as a result, they had to go through a longer process to get it done; to get the contractual arrangement. [They had to] follow the different number of steps based on the size. It has gone through Cabinet and is ready to go,” the minister explained during a recent interview with the Jamaica Observer.

Ground was broken for the 5,300-square-foot, two-storey building in March of last year and it was supposed to be completed within two years. However, construction only began in May of this year. The project is being funded and managed by the NHT under the Ministry of National Security’s Project Rebuild, Overhaul, and Construct (Project ROC). The new deadline was provided by the NHT’s senior project manager in the Special Projects Unit, Jacqueline Johnson.

With the procedural issues now ironed out, Dr Chang anticipates that the slab for the second floor will be laid soon. The new police station will include workstations and living quarters, a new sewage disposal system, the paving of driveways and parking lots, the erection of a boundary wall, as well as the installation of kitchen and laundry areas.

There are also plans to include renewable energy along with water harvesting facilities in the new structure that is expected to provide employment and training opportunities when it is up and running.

The goal, under Project ROC, is to make the country’s police stations modern and citizen-friendly workspaces. The Government is expected to spend more than $5 billion to improve conditions at 200 police stations across Jamaica.