… first phase to be completed by end of January 2018

MONUMENTAL and exciting are just two words used by Guyana Football Federation (GFF) president Wayne Forde, as he spoke about the commencement of work for the country’s first ‘home for football’ – the FIFA Forward Programme – which is located at Providence, East Bank Demerara.

Forde, addressing the media yesterday at the Federation Headquarters in Dadanawa Street Campbellville, spoke of the GFF’s happiness to finally be able to deliver on an almost 18-year-old promise to football fraternity of Guyana.
Greenfields, a European group, won the bid to lay the turf in Guyana, and Johannes Van Krimpen said the turf will mirror those of any of the ‘first world’.

With works expected to start within seven days on the 8.5 acres land which was leased from the Eccles/Ramsburg Neighbourhood Democratic Council, Forde explained that Nabi and Sons was sub-contracted to work along with Greenfields and should see the first phase completed by the end of January, 2018.

“FIFA would have gone through several changes within its developmental arm over the past couple of years; I should say over the past year and a half, and the new management at FIFA’s Development Department wanted to have a situation where a single contractor is responsible for the entire works associated with the construction of the artificial turf, and as a result of that the Executive Committee met with Home Design and Engineering Associates, who were awarded a contract last year and we were able to amicably resolve the matter relating to their contract,” Forde stated.

“Greenfields is the sole contractor for this phase of the work, but their sub-contractor is going to be Nabi and Sons and we want to ensure that we clear the air on that. So much of the conceptual design that you see is going to be tweaked a bit to ensure that the facility caters for the development of those athletes. As part of the grand facility that we’re building, we’re going to have a gym, we’re considering a cool-down pool, we’re going to install or build dorms where we can have lengthy encampment,” Forde explained.

He added, “We’re also looking at a high-quality catering and kitchen service; we’re going to try to create commercial spaces that can create revenue for the Guyana Football Federation, so much of that work would commence after we would have completed Phase One.”

According to Forde, approximately 24 months is estimated for the completion of the entire facility, and he was certain that the project is “going to make a tremendous impact on the way football is operated in Guyana. Much of the encampment services that we’re involved in really requires a massive investment from the Federation”.

“As we have stated in the public before, encamping a team comes at almost (Guyana) $300 000 to $400 000 a day, so with our facility we’ll be able to reduce that cost dramatically, and at the same time, prepare our athletes to compete at the highest level, regionally and internationally.”

Under the FIFA Forward Programme, National Federations are entitled to US$750 000 annually, but, in the case of Guyana, given the fact that it is the country’s first, Forde said that FIFA wanted to ensure that as much resources as possible are available, and as such, it was not possible for him to state the estimated cost of the entire project.

The GFF president also noted that next, the GFF and FIFA will look to build a similar structure in Linden, and then Rupununi, after which, the other parts of Guyana will ‘fall in line’.

It is Forde’s hope that at the end of the first phase, the pitch can be used while construction of the other parts of the facility is going on.