Officials at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) are still waiting to move into the agency's new $2 million Gladstone Road headquarters more than a year after its proposed completion date. Captain Stephen Russell, NEMA's director, expressed his disappointment to Guardian Business. The matter is now before officials at the Ministry of Works and Urban Development. He confirmed that a letter was written by NEMA and sent to that ministry's permanent secretary outlining these concerns. "Right now, we are one year behind the proposed completion date.
I have written to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Works and Urban Development expressing my concerns. So that's something between the Ministry of Works and Urban Development and the contractor to find out what the challenges are, and why the property hasn't been completed as yet. We cannot do anything until the building is completed and officially handed over to the Bahamian government," he said. The delayed NEMA building has received greater focus of late due to the passage of Hurricane Sandy.
NEMA's new headquarters would include a single-story building - approximately 6,981 square feet - offering office accommodations for about 20 persons. Many of these workers serve on a 24-hour basis to manage any disaster facing the country. The building will also be outfitted with overnight emergency sleeping quarters, including bathroom and kitchen facilities, and a fully equipped media and communications center. A service building will house storage water tanks, electrical equipment and a back-up generator.
The government awarded a $1.7 million contract to Ran Mar Precision Development Company. Work on the project began in January 2011. While construction is not yet completed, Russell is hoping his team will be able to move into the new headquarters by the end of the year. "I am quite sure that there will be additional costs for miscellaneous work, but again that's something that officials from the Ministry of Works and Urban Development will have to determine.
They were initially concerned with the inside of the walls of the property, but you must bare in mind now what are called easements coming through the property," according to Russell. "These are small things that are coming on stream and need to be tidied up before the building is officially handed over. "From an agency standpoint, I was personally preparing to do it after the 2012 hurricane season, so anytime during the month of December I would like to try and make that move, so that we are fully functioning in the new year. We would not like for it to happen now because we are in the middle of an active hurricane season."
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