$850M world-class sports complex for TT

Government will spend TT$850 million on the construction of a world-class sporting complex on former Caroni Lands, partly in the hope of recapturing Trinidad and Tobago’s position at the top of the cricket world as well as boost its performance in football. Sports Minister Roger Boynes announced yesterday that Cabinet had given its approval for the facility at yesterday’s weekly meeting. The facility, which was originally to be built at Union Park, has now been moved to Tarouba because of inability of the Union Park site to hold all the elements of the complex. The total facility would take up 180 acres of land. (Union Park is only 20 acres).

The facility whose flagships will be the Brian Lara Cricket Stadium, the George Bovell Aquatic Centre and an indoor gymnasium, would also have a “magnet school” for training sportsmen. The entire facility will accommodate all the major sports — cricket, swimming, cycling, indoor basketball, netball, volleyball, lawn tennis and hockey. Boynes made the announcement at the post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall. Present at the conference were Udecott boss, Calder Hart and technocrat Ian Telfer, who made a presentation to reporters.

Udecott has responsibility for designing and constructing the complex. Calder Hart said work would begin immediately on the construction of roads, electricity, water and sewer facilities and other infrastructure of the Brian Lara Stadium. The stadium, estimated to cost $275 million, has to be delivered on April 2006. (Boynes confirmed that there would be “warm-up matches” in Trinidad and Tobago in preparation for 2007 World Cup Cricket). Boynes said Government hoped that with the construction of the complex “we can get back on top on the world stage especially as it relates to cricket and football.” Boynes stated that the Brian Lara Cricket Academy would allow the use of the most modern technology to digitally  analyse all aspects of each players’ style. “Look at the status of our cricket today.

We need to have a world class facility where the players can be trained and where they would be in a position to see themselves perform on television and understand what techniques they need to be utilising in order to improve their game,” he said. He added that it was envisaged that  cricketers from other regions would be able to use the training facility, at a cost. The complex will be built in phases with the cricket section being the first phase.  The stands at the facility would seat 10,000 with an expandable capacity to hold more than 16,000 people. All facilities are expected to be completed within a three to five year period.

Boynes said Government would be keeping a keen eye for cost overruns. Calder Hart added that in order to prevent any such eventuality, Udecott’s tendering process would be using “fixed price contracts.” He said US based architectural company HOK which had designed all the top sporting facilities in the world such as the NFL stadia, had designed the complex. Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Christine Sahadeo, said proper tendering procedures were being followed in order to ensure high levels of  transparency and proper accountability.