Commissioning of new classrooms for the Tonga Police Featured
30 May, 2021. The Australian High Commissioner, His Excellency Adrian Morrison was the Guest of Honour at the commissioning of the new classrooms for the Tonga Police College today.
The new school building has three classrooms, which can accommodate 75 – 90 students. The classrooms are partitioned with a wondoor, which can be drawn to form a hall. The value of the construction was TOP$435,445.00.
The Tonga Police College’s new school building is the last of 43 buildings rebuilt and repaired/retrofitted under the Pacific Resilience Program (PREP) project. This is the 25th school, which marks the completion of this construction program.
This construction is part of the school resilience construction program of the PREP project implemented by the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment Climate Change and Communications (MEIDECC).
It is co-funded by the World Bank and the Australian Government through the Government of Tonga. It aims at contributing to the resilient and sustainable economic and social development of Tonga through strengthening: early warning; resilient investment; and financial protection.
The PREP project includes rebuilding and repairing/retrofitting of school buildings which were damaged by Tropical Cyclone Gita that hit Tonga and ‘Eua in February 2018.
There are 25 schools in the project; rebuilding 33 buildings and repairing/retrofitting 10, with a total of more than 120 classrooms. This cschool resilience onstruction program costs approximately TOP$29 million.
The Deputy Commissioner Corporate Services, Tonga Police Headquarters, Mrs Lau’aitu Tupouniua-Sherman warmly welcomed everyone and expressed a very sincere gratitude on behalf of the Ministry of Police, Prison and Fire Services for the presence of representatives from donor partners, working partners and government Ministries.
The Chief Executive Officer for MEIDECC, Mr. Paula Pouvalu Ma’u proudly said, “Today is particularly exceptional, for it marks the completion of the school building construction program under PREP.
This great accomplishment would not have been achieved, without the collaborative effort and support of working partners and the financial courtesy of the World Bank and the Government of Australia.”
The Guest of Honour, His Excellency Adrian Morrison acknowledged the successful cooperation of all working partners, the World Bank and Government of Australia, which have accomplished the completion of the school construction program.
He said, “ We gather today not only to commission these classrooms but to mark the completion of this phase of the Pacific Resilience Program. It is a truly remarkable undertaking and a truly remarkable achievement.
They are designed and built to enhance the learning experience.” He also proudly stated, “This project has been the single most satisfying experience of my time in Tonga.”
The Acting Commissioner of Police, Lord Fielakepa thanked the donor partners for their courtesy and support through the new classrooms to develop the most important assets of Tonga: its people. He appreciatively conveyed with gratitude that the new classrooms are dedicated for the training of policemen and policewomen.
Mr. Andrew Whillas and Mr. Paula Kava represented Cardno; ‘Ofa Construction representative; Mr. ‘Isikeli Oko and Mr. Saipalesi Unu from the Ministry of Education; MEIDECC officers; PMU representative; Tonga Police Senior Officers and the new recruits of the Tonga Police College were also present to celebrate this milestone.
The Managing Contractor – Cardno, designed and supervised the construction. The builder was the ‘Ofa Construction.
