04 Jun 2023

 Minister of Defence and Security, Mr Kagiso Mmusi, is happy with the progress of the extension of the Gaborone Central Police Station(CPS) project.

Minister Mmusi revealed during a tour of the project Friday that the P35.6 million project, which started in March and expected to be completed by September next year, was currently at 18 per cent against the expected 10 per cent and thus ahead of schedule.

“This is one of the most vital projects in my ministry and it is therefore important that it be completed on schedule. I am happy at the pace at which the contractor, Colic Construction is going and they should keep up the good work. I am confident that the project could even be handed before the planned time,” he said.

He indicated that the ministry would soon launch a new unit within the Botswana Police called City Policing, which he said would be responsible for rapid response on escalating criminal activities such as smash-and-grab and increasing housebreaks.“The CPS is a strategically positioned station and it would be handy in the success of this new unit, hence the need for its speedy completion,” he said.

The minister noted that the police station would have a children’s facility and other areas where confidential cases such as those related to gender based violence would be reported.

“It is our hope therefore that this would help in addressing issues of GBV and cases associated with children as people would now be provided with a conducive environment to freely report,” he added.

Further, he hailed the recent decision by government to deploy the Special Support Group (SSG) on the streets of Gaborone, adding that had since seen a decline in criminal activities such as heists on cash-in-transit vehicles.

He also appreciated accession by government to increase the number of police recruits. “We recently graduated about 1 000 police officers and we are expecting to recruit about the same number for this financial year. These numbers will help us on ensure police visibility and response,” he said.

For his part, Colic Construction chief executive officer, Mr Xukun Song appreciated the minister’s visit to the project, saying that indicated its national importance.

Mr Song said so far, they had about 68 employees, most of them citizens and youth. “Still on the issue of Economic Development Diversification, we have sourced most of our materials from citizen suppliers, and where there is a need to import, we have ensured to use citizen agents as well,” he said.

He also said they had sub-contracted a number of citizen-owned companies.

Deputy police commissioner- operations, Mr Solomon Mantswe said as one of the busiest police station, it was important that CPS be expanded.

“This is one of the oldest police stations in the country as it was built before independence, so it was lagging behind and needed to be upgraded to meet the current challenges,” Mr Mantswe said.

He indicated that to address the escalating crime in the city, the Botswana Police Service would soon increase surveillance by installing 1 800 cameras and start using drones.

“We are also planning to use advanced technology to monitor cash-in-transit vehicles without the need for the police to provide physical escort,” he said. ENDS