$10m Chinese funding for new forensic science centre

NATIONAL Security Minister Stuart Young says $10 million in free funding from China has been received for the first phase of a new state-of-the-art DNA and forensic science centre.

He was speaking as the Standing Finance Committee considered national security expenditure of the 2018/2019 national budget in Parliament on Friday last week.

Young said the centre will be located in Mt Hope just off the highway and the breaking of ground will be soon after the budget with an estimated completion of the last quarter of 2019 or 2020.

Young said in the short term he would be visiting the current centre in St James after the budget to see what he can do.

He said there has been a difficulty for decades in recruiting pathologists to the Forensic Science Centre. He recalled forensic pathologist Dr Valery Alexandrov left last year and created a vacancy. He said the ministry went to the United Nations Development Programme which has a recruitment programme and has requested three qualified pathologists.