Police have unveiled a plan to construct a new headquarters building at Naguru at a cost of shs77 billion with works to be done by Seyani Brothers company.
The Inspector General of Police, John Martins Okoth Ochola on Thursday officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the new headquarters as part of the bigger JLOS House project.
Speaking at the function, Ochola said the Police continues to grapple with a challenge of accommodation both office and residential since its inception in 1906.
“Since inception in 1906, Uganda Police has not had any permanent home called police headquarters. It is for this very reason that I am happy that we are now commissioning the construction of our permanent home,” Ochola said.
“Because of the housing challenge, the police management in 2011 decided to vacate the rental premises and transferred our police headquarters to the CID headquarters.”
The IGP said due to the inadequate space at the current building in Naguru, several directorates and units continue to operate outside the police headquarters.
“It becomes a times difficult if you need a director very urgently.”
Ochola said in 2011, the police surrendered its 4.71 acres of land to the Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS) which among others included among others the construction of the police headquarters but said the project then suffered several setbacks which led to delays.
He said this project has now seen the light of the day with the commissioning of the construction works.
“The new building is expected to have a floor area of 14934 square metres spread on 12 floors. It will also have a stand-alone conference centre capable of hosting up to 500 people. It will have parade yards, a helipad and sufficient parking. The new facility will be six times the current police headquarters which will enable us bring directors under one roof,” Ochola said.
He said with the ground breaking ceremony done, police will now have a chance to concentrate on personnel and office accommodation with the available resources.
According to Robert Kasande, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Justice, the ministry is moving to reduce money it spends in rent for the different institutions under it.
“JLOS institutions within Kampala spend shs30 billion a year and in seven years this will come to about shs210billion. That is whole lot of money that we want to reduce,” Kasande said.
Racheal Odoi, a senior technical advisor at JLOS, construction of the new police headquarters is part of the bigger JLOS House project.
“As JLOS, we have an infrastructure development plan which looks for purpose-built homes for our institutions across the country. We are looking at providing premises and facilities which will be the launch pad for delivery of services throughout the country. Our target has been reaching the farthest points of the country. Our target for now has been district level but we hope at some point in time to cover the parish level,”Odoi said.
She noted that JLOS has been able to cover 75% of the districts noting that they have targeted construction of justice centres for frontline institutions including court, police, prosecution and prisons.
“When we build justice centres, we are building police stations, police posts, courts and offices for the DPP. We have built purpose accommodation for staff in regions and districts. We realized along the way that while we are providing necessary tools and equipment for people in districts and regions, institutions at the national level were living in rented premises which were not even permanent.”
She applauded police for donating land for the construction of JLOS House project which she said enabled JLOS mobilise funds.
According to officials, construction of the new police headquarters is expected to be completed in 2025.
