By Ravin Singh

PRESIDENT David Granger has said on Friday’s edition of his weekly television programme, ‘The Public Interest’, that capital towns in the regions will benefit from stadium-like facilities to accommodate public events in the future.Guyana currently has nine towns: Anna Regina, Bartica, Corriverton, Georgetown, Lethem, Linden, Mabaruma, New Amsterdam and Rose Hall. A tenth town, Mahdia, is expected to be commissioned in 2017.

The President said Government is looking at developing stadium-like facilities in these towns. “We are looking at developing facilities in the capital towns. Those are at Lethem, Bartica, Mabaruma, Mahdia, Anna Regina and so on, which could be venues for public events,” President Granger said.

He also disclosed it is unlikely that the stands at Durban Park would be dismantled. The park was built initially through a two-phase process to host the flag-raising ceremony and float parade of Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary. The first was a public-private phase in which private donations were utilised in construction of the park; the second phase was funded by Government.

Government had initially announced that the 27 wooden stands at Durban Park would be dismantled after the May 26 float parade and sent to various community centres.
But the President said on Friday that Government recognises the facility serves as an institution for public events and would consequently not like to deprive the public of its use. Government has therefore opted not to dismantle the stadium-like facility, which has been used by several bodies for public events after the jubilee celebrations.

“We’ve had a second look at it and (concluded that) Durban Park is an institution which people have started to use. We’ve had requests; the churches have started to use the facility. We’ve had other social functions, including parades. So it is very likely that Durban Park, which is the single largest stadium in the country, will be kept as a place for public purposes,” the President said, adding that the stands will not be dismantled.

He further explained that the area would be protected against vandalism and any unsafe practice. In addition, he noted that the present thinking is that the park would be improved and kept intact as a major place for public events.

As it relates to the cost for the facility, the President said he could not say how much was spent to build it, since at the level of Cabinet he was not in receipt of any report about overall expenditure.