AFRICA and the Caribbean FIFA’s director Véron Mosengo-Omba, who holds responsibility for development, has confirmed the receipt of documents pertaining to the Guyana Football Federation’s Forward Programme, formerly called the Goal Project.The director, who was present for a joint press conference yesterday morning at the GFF headquarters, confirmed that GFF is awaiting the ‘Notice to Proceed’ from the world governing body. He contended that word should be forthcoming soon.
“On the GFF’s side, they have done everything; documentation and costs; everything that they needed to do and all the documents and requirements that we (FIFA) need to have; GFF has done it and sent it. The ball is in our field now.”
“My presence here in Guyana, particularly in the GFF house of football is to encourage this team, who have started a good job to continue this way, and FIFA will stay with them to support them in this good job,” the FIFA director said.
He noted, however, that the world body is in a period of transition to put all things in order and ensure equality among those member states which were often overlooked.
The FIFA director stated that over time, the paperwork has become rigorous to try and root out corruption, adding that it is not a barrier, but rather measures of accountability and transparency.
Meanwhile, president of the GFF, Wayne Forde, contended that once this is received, a three-month time span has been predicted by the contractors for the pitch.
“The contractor (from Greenfields) indicated to us in his last visit about a week ago, that he can have the pitch finished in a little over three months. That in itself is an encouragement,” Forde said.
He added, “We don’t have a timeline on things like the fence and the stands, but the pitch is the priority right now. We want to have that pitch done because we can play immediately after it is rolled out.”
“The Providence facility will be the home not only for the GFF, but the entire football family,” the GFF boss said, adding that the ultimate long-term goal is to ensure that each association has one high-quality playing venue.
The project is being constructed under the FIFA-preferred installers Greenfields, a company which according to its website is “committed to producing the most innovative and technologically advanced synthetic turf systems in the world”.
They have constructed facilities all across the world including the United Kingdom, Sweden, Colombia and El Salvador.