On Friday 14 July 2023, a handing over ceremony took place between the Seychelles Infrastructural Agency, contractors, and the Judiciary for the first phase of ongoing partitioning work in the Palais de Justice attic.
The handing-over in the Supreme Court auditorium consisted of the official signing of the documents of the Partitioning work by the Chief Justice Rony Govinden and a representative from SIA, Mr. Omath, in the presence of some Judiciary management staff, technicians, officers, surveyors, and the contractors.
Currently there are large unused spaces in the Palais de Justice attic, which offers opportunity to create office spaces for staff, meeting rooms, storage for documents, and to generally decongest crowded work spaces on the ground floor and first floor of the building.
Phase 1 of the partitioning work is the construction of a Court Interpreters’ Office and a Conference room at a cost of SCR 1,357,960.25 (One Million Three Hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand Nine Hundred and Sixty Rupees Twenty Five Cents Only).
The Judiciary’s Director of Operations and Logistics, Mr. Paul Derjacques, is in charge of overseeing the project on behalf of the institution.
Following the Tender procedure, the National Tender Board awarded the Contract to Thunder Construction on the 5th of October 2022. The Contract was signed on the 26th of October 2022 for a 12 weeks duration. For various reasons the project failed deadline multiple times – 13th February, 28th February, 16th March, and 13th April.
At the handing over ceremony, the Chief Justice thanked all partners for their work and expressed his appreciation for the ongoing collaboration with the Seychelles Infrastructure Agency, that has been working alongside the Judiciary in all maintenance, renovations, and infrastructural upgrades these past few years.
Other upcoming maintenance works at the Judiciary include: replacement of outdated Fire Alarm Systems, ongoing Bird Proofing, replacement of fluorescent lights with LED ones, and repairing the non-operational lift.