The Central Fire Station (CFS) could be relocated somewhere near D’Urban Park.
This was disclosed today in a press release from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Minister Robeson Benn was reported as saying: “…there is a plan to relocate the Central Fire Station after all these many years hopefully to somewhere near D’Urban Park. There are funds assigned in the budget for this purpose, initial funding I would say, there has been talk over the years of congestion in the Stabroek area and the difficulty of having the assets roll out from that area, both the fire assets and the ambulance service”.
There has been speculation in the past that the CFS will be relocated to part of the much criticised D’Urban Park project under the former APNU+AFC government which was controversially built at a cost of over $1b.
Benn was delivering remarks on Wednesday at the third meeting of the recently reconstituted Fire Advisory Board.
He told the board that “there is a tremendous amount of work that has to be done both at the administrative and technical level”.
Benn urged the members of the board to become aware, engaged and assertive in identifying and addressing the matters which surround fire prevention, mitigation and firefighting in Guyana.
Some of the issues highlighted by the Minister included the reviewing of building codes, preservation of assets of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and the expansion of the GFS to three new towns: Mabaruma, Lethem and Mahdia, where new Fire Stations are currently being constructed and are near completion.
Other issues highlighted by Benn included the restoration of fire hydrants in the city, improving administrative control, proper strategic management of assets, as well as the training of firefighters which the Minister described as “being in a serious deficit and lacking sufficient engagement”.
The release said that the Fire Advisory Board was reconstituted on April 9, 2021 for a period of one year. The Board is chaired by Ramesh Sugrim.
