More delays for Regional Police Academy

13:30 Thu Jan 23, 2014
Report by: Shanal Sivan

The Melanesian Spearhead Group Regional Police Academy in Nabukavesi – Navua won’t get off the ground anytime soon.

The project which was due for construction in 2011 has been plagued by funding issues.

Defence Minister Joketani Cokanasiga says the entire government machinery is now focussed on national elections.

“We think that, because of the resources that’s required to establish it, we have a lot more priorities, you know to develop Wainadoi, you won’t get very much change out of the $20m, to clean the place out, do your drainage works and start to design what kind of buildings you have.”

The academy is expected to cost about twenty million dollars.

Cokanasiga says there is no date when construction will begin.

“We need that money now, for elections, and for development, we already have a facility that we can use so i think after elections we will look at that again.”

The facility will train police officers from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.