MINISTER of Social Cohesion, Dr George Norton, last Thursday, received a status update on works being executed on both sites of the Synthetic Tracks Project.

The primary updates were provided during a meeting with the project’s external supervising consultant and engineer from BSW Regupol, Mr Patrick Heinen, who recently conducted the third of four scheduled inspection visits.

The meeting, hosted at Minister Norton’s Main Street, Georgetown office, included Permanent Secretary, Ms Melissa Tucker; Assistant Director of Sport and project manager, Ms Melissa Dow-Richardson; the Ministry’s maintenance inspector, Mr Oswin Crawford; along with local consultants from AquaSun Designs – Mr Orin Boyce and Mr Jason Baptiste.

The engagement followed a series of inspections and evaluations carried out by the project management team, consultants and engineers, over the past week.

According to Mr Heinen, the Linden aspect of the project is “shaping up nicely”, but there have been some minor glitches at the Berbice site.

“We looked at works that have already been done, works that are ongoing, as well as works that are projected to be done,” Heinen informed the meeting.

He explained that works being executed by Builders Hardware in Linden are on par with the projected timeline of the project.

Heinen estimates that the Region 10 track will be ready for the laying of asphalt materials within the next two months.

“That part of the project will take approximately 20 days, so it should be completed by September,” Heinen pointed out.

The engineer noted that the asphalt would require two weeks to cure, after which, the facility would be ready for the installation of synthetic material, thereby completing the track.

“Other works will still continue during the asphalt curing phase,” Heinen said.

In the meantime, the team is working to address some of the minor challenges tied to the project, so as to ensure that the year-end timeline remains intact.

Prior to the meeting, Minister Norton paid a impromptu visit to the construction site in New Amsterdam, Berbice to inspect the works completed so far.

Dr Norton remains hopeful that both sites of the Synthetic Tracks Project would be finished before 2020.

The Minister remains committed to providing local athletes with state-of-the-art facilities that can not only be used for adequate practice, but also for the hosting of prestigious meets such as the Carifta Games, as well. The next edition of the Carifta Games is set for 2021, right here in Guyana.