-promises velodrome for cycling
THE swimming fraternity in Guyana has finally acquired an Olympic-sized, 50-metre swimming pool, following the commissioning yesterday of the National Aquatic Centre at Liliendaal by President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Addressing his audience, which included Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony; Minister of Tourism Manniram Prashad; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport, Alfred King and other special invitees, President Jagdeo was high in praise for the work put in by Dr Anthony on the completed project.
“We have had many ups and downs with this project, with Dr Anthony being subjected to, at times, many unfair characterisations by members of the media; yet he overcame all of those to deliver what we are here to commission today, this wonderful aquatic centre.”
According to President Jagdeo, the facility could have been opened last September, but he declined to do so, since he felt it was not fully functional and recommended that some more infrastructural work be done in some areas.
Such works were highlighted by Dr Anthony in his brief remarks. These included the paving of a driveway, building of a car park and remodelling the mound into a stand from where spectators can witness live swim meets.
President Jagdeo made a commitment to fund the construction of a 25- metre warm-up pool for the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) which would cost $25M, saying such would not create any significant commitment on the Treasury that would outlast his tenure as President.
“I am sure we can afford the funding of the pool. With the state of our finances, which is comfortably improving, we can look forward to significant growth in revenue as our economy expands without increasing taxes.
“In fact, by reducing taxes, we were able to afford many of the facilities we were unable to fund before, largely because of scarce funds, which left us in a position to make some very, very critical choices; but we chose in favour of things that cut across our entire population and at the same time, not affect the well-being of our people,” the president said.
He added, “Hands down, education, health care, the rebuilding of our economic and social infrastructure were some of the things. But at this stage, we were able to focus more resources on the things that have created the identity of a nation, such as sports and culture.”
While acknowledging the fact that he will soon be demitting office, President Jagdeo said he was aware of one of the promises made in the past, a very important one he was unable to complete, the construction of a cycling velodrome.
“I know that it was a promise made in the past and I did not get to fulfil this during my tenure as President, but that will be completed in the future.
“I say this because I am confident about the future and this is not a political plug. I know many manifestos in the past have promised many things, but if you read the manifesto of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic for this year’s elections, you would see the construction of the velodrome, along with several other indoor sports facilities across Guyana listed therein.”
He added, “We are promising to build a whole range of sports facilities across the country, to enhance the development of sports. We would be looking to work together with the sporting fraternity, towards the development of sports in Guyana. The Olympic Association has secured a plot of land to build their headquarters, while another plot of land was given to the Guyana Karate College to build their home there, while I am aware of another facility being developed next week in this same area.”
In his remarks Minister Dr Anthony said the government has made a profound transformation of sports facilities in Guyana, as he referred to the Guyana National Stadium, the national athletics track at Leonora and now the Aquatic Centre.
“The stadium now plays host to sports such as football, rugby, hockey and cricket, apart from other social and cultural activities, while we have completed the first phase of the national track at Leonora and will shortly commence the second phase.”
According to Dr Anthony, the National Aquatic Centre will be providing several services to the country, being the home of the national swimming team to execute their elite programmes, it will also be available to other associations for swimming programmes.
The new facility will assist with the development of swimming in schools, host national, regional and international swim meets and offer courses for persons desirous of becoming officials in the field of swimming.
Highlighting the fact that Guyana swim teams were at the Olympics on two occasions when they had trained in a 25-metre pool, Dr Anthony believes that with the completion of the Olympic-sized pool, our swimmers can now work harder and bring back the medals that eluded us in the past.
Dr Anthony also said that Guyana is blessed since “we are one of the few countries to have our pool constructed by the world renowned Myrtha Pool Incorporated.”
The commissioning got under way with prayers from Muslim, Hindu and Christian representatives, and those in attendance were treated to a dance by the National Dance School and a musical item from the National Steel Orchestra.
Following President Jagdeo’s unveiling of the plaque to officially declare the National Aquatic Centre open, an aquatic display by swimmers attached to the GASA, including a male and female 100 metres medley event, was undertaken with Brittney Van Lange and Nial Roberts copping the top podium finish respectively.