Unused police station costing taxpayers R100 million

A police station in Gauteng, in an area with one of the highest crime rates, stands empty, almost eight years after initial construction began.
According to the SABC, Diepsloot Police Station was initially due to cost R52 million, but will now cost tax payers an additional R54 million – and is yet to begin servicing the public.
The police station, north of Johannesburg, was initially expected to take three years to build, but is still waiting for a water and electricity connection, as police officers share space with the Johannesburg Metro Police Department.
Burglary, common assault and robbery accounted for more than a thousand cases in Diepsloot in 2014, while recent incidences of child rape has put the township on high alert.
The double story police station has family quarters, prison cells, and several administrative offices and is half the size of a football pitch.
The public works department has blamed the contractor for not completing the building’s construction, years after it was due to be built. Construction first began as far back as 2008.
The department cancelled the contract in 2011, and a year and a half later, in February 2013, a new contractor was appointed at a cost of R54 million.
In August 2014, the department said that the station would opened, but as of July, it is still vacant.
The Police Ministry is now being blamed by the department, who said that it wants to make design changes and add to the security of the building.
The police station is now expected to be opened within the next two to three months.
Diesploot police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Daniel Mavimbela, told Fourways Review: “Police work is in the streets, and I will talk about the new police station as soon as we move in.”
Find the radio report here.
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