WINDHOEK – The construction of a N$54 million police headquarters at Outapi that has been in limbo for about four years will now finally be completed by the end of this month.
This was confirmed by the Omusati regional commander Commissioner Titus Shikongo on Thursday morning during a telephonic interview.
This project was expected to be completed on May 23, 2015.
However, its construction has been standing idle in Outapi due to payment issues between the contractor and the Ministry of Safety and Security.
The site was then abandoned after the initial contractor, Amupolo Building, was removed, the regional commander confirmed.
Shikongo said the police have taken over work on the N$54 million state-of-the-art police headquarters, which had stalled for years.
“They are almost done and are just busy with final small touches for the building to be fully completed. And we are only waiting for Telecom to do their final installation works and the building will then be utilised,” said Shikongo.
In the past two years the police in Omusati have devoted Wednesdays to assist the estate team from Windhoek, which is on site. The estate team in the police is responsible for repairs of police infrastructure.
The Wednesday initiative was introduced by the former commissioner Tylves Kampolo to accelerate the building work. “We could not sit idle and watch the colleagues do the work alone, hence we have dedicated Wednesdays to add manpower to the team on site so that we can have our structure completed,” said Kampolo.
Currently, the police in Omusati operate in over-crowded offices. The existing premises are full and, as a result, there is also no parking space, forcing the police officers to park their vehicles outside their premises.
However, Shikongo assured New Era that everything will be put to rest end of June and the police will have their comfortable working place as soon as possible after the formal handing over.