Groundbreaking Ceremony For Police Academy Headquarters
Samoan Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa and China's Ambassador to Samoa Chao Xiaoling had the honors of breaking the ground to mark the momentous occasion.
Photo: Supplied
The Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections Services last Tuesday commemorated the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the construction of a new base for the Police Academy which will be located at Tafaigata.
The event was supposed to be held last year but was postponed because of Covid-19 restrictions. Nevertheless, the Samoa Police, Prisons and Corrections Services are elated and thankful that works for the new Police Academy's headquarters have officially commenced.
Present at the ceremony last Tuesday were the Honourable Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiame Naomi Mataafa, China's Ambassador to Samoa, Chao Xiaoling, Faualo Harry Schuster, the Minister of Samoa Police, Prisons and Correctional Services, as well as Members of Parliament and Members of Samoa Police.
The police academy project is funded by the People’s Republic of China with Samoa’s approved assistance of WST$1,152,494 making up the total estimated cost of WST$16,652,494 The headquarters will be constructed on 16 acres of land previously occupied by the Tafaigata Prison.
The Academy was designed by the Shanghai Architecture Engineering company and will be constructed by the Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group from China for eighteen months.
The Police Academy complex will consist of training and teaching classrooms, an academy office, an operations training venue, accommodations building, equipment room, watching stands, a roofed sports field, and auxiliary facilities including defensive driving training grounds.
The Samoan Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa and Chana's Ambassador to Samoa Chao Xiaoling had the honours of breaking the ground to mark the momentous occasion.
During his keynote address, the Minister of Samoa Police, Prisons and Correctional Services ,Faualo Harry Schuster, acknowledged and showed appreciation to the People's Republic of China for making this project possible and stated, "The Police Academy is envisioned as a multi-agency training centre for the development of police knowledge in up-keeping the law as well as the safety of the people of Samoa''.
Elaborating on the courses that will be made available at theAcademy , Faualo said the sector is looking at a complete remapping of the current curriculum and training for police officers and should be in place prior to the opening of the facility., and further added that consultants from New Zealand, Australia and Fiji helping out. “The target is for a curriculum that will produce officers with standards and academic qualifications that would be recognized overseas,” he said