Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn says the Ministry has identified the Durban Park area as the site for the relocation for the Guyana Fire Service’s (GFS)Central Fire Station.
The Minister made the disclosure during the graduation ceremony of the first batch of firefighters for the hinterland region on Friday.
“The location is supposed to be specified, but it is supposed to be at Durban Park, in that vicinity. We expect that, as was said, that the response times would be better. We expect that there would be more room to properly house, maintain and deploy the assets from out there,” he said.
Minister Benn said provisions have been made for the relocation of the Central Fire Station in the 2021 National Budget. The GFS headquarters is currently located in the congested Stabroek area, which hinders response time.
While the preliminary design for the fire station is complete, Minister Benn said no sum has been specified for the construction of the facility.
Budget 2021 saw some $1.9 billion earmarked to enhance the capacity of the Fire Service.
This accounts for the relocation of the Central Fire Station, the construction of a new fire station at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, and the purchase of six water tenders and two ambulances.
On Friday, the GFS graduated its first batch of trained firefighters for Regions One, Eight and Nine. In March, four fire tenders valued $202.9 million were handed over to the GFS. The vehicles were dispatched to Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara, Eccles, East Bank Demerara, another to West Demerara and to the Central Fire Station in Georgetown.
