Two new fire stations expected on Mahé |26 December 2020

The Anse Royale fire station under construction

Two new fire stations, one at Anse Royale and the other at Anse Boileau, are expected to be built as part of government’s endeavour to improve fire and rescue facilities in the country.

Following an initial visit to the Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency (SFRSA) headquarters at Latanier Road on November 18, the Minister for Internal Affairs, Errol Fonseka, visited the other Mahé-based SFRSA facilities on Thursday December 17 where he was briefed on the projects.

The minister’s delegation for the visit include principal secretary in the Designated Minister’s Office Sheryl Vengadasamy, chief fire officer Albert Rose, senior divisional officer Jones Madeleine and assistant divisional officer Terence Arnephy.

The delegation’s first visit was at the Anse Royale fire station project site, where a tour of the site was conducted, after which the minister was briefed on progress made on the construction, constraints that the project has encountered and remedial actions taken, as well as on what is required for successful completion of the project.

From Anse Royale, the delegation proceeded to the Anse Boileau fire post where a tour of station was also undertaken. Then the minister met the staff who were on duty and was briefed on the state of the structure of the building, the constraints involved in using the old police station as a fire station and the project to build a new fire station, including the proposed funding opportunity from a private donor.

On the same day, the delegation also visited the Beau Vallon life guard post. There, Minister Fonseka was introduced to the director of life guard services which is an extension of the SFRSA.

After a tour of the post, a meeting was held with staff on duty. Among the matters discussed were the constraints related to the use of a container as an office, the state of the container’s structure, the scheme of service for the lifeguard services and the Société Seychelloise d’Investissement (SSI) Beau Vallon Re-Development project to include a proper lifeguard station.

Contributed