By Naomi Marshall

MELISSA Dow-Richardson, Assistant Director of Sport, has disclosed that the synthetic track at the Bayroc Community Centre ground in Wismar, Linden, is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

Dow-Richardson, along with members of the Public Infrastructure Special Project team and Building team for the Ministry of Education, conducted their third site visit to Linden as it pertains to the synthetic track project on Tuesday.
Dow-Richardson described the project as “unique”, adding, “it’s a two-site project, because we got synthetic in Region 6 and we’re placing synthetic in Region 10.”
She highlighted that BSW Regupol would have sent their consultants and engineers to do the evaluation of both sites, noting that the Bayroc Community Centre was suitable and welcoming.

Lawrence Mentis, Public Infrastructure Head of the Special Project Unit, explained that they will be involved in the surveying component of the project whereby the ground will be totally surveyed with the use of GPS mapping.
“The part of the special project we will be playing are two components, the surveying component whereby we go and get the ground totally surveyed. We will have the levels also to determine where the water will be receiving and also we have the testing of the soil,” said Mentis.

He further stated that the surveying stage should commence tomorrow and they are hoping that the soil testing and surveying components will be given to the Ministry by Wednesday.

Mayor of Linden, Carwyn Holland, stated that he’s “happy to see another project that I was passionate about come on stream. It’s all about Linden. And we’ve been working closely with the athletes and winning the national championships without a stadium. So I know this will be very impactful for Linden.”

Construction on the facility is expected to begin within this first quarter of 2018, and it is the desire and expectation of the team to have the track completed by year end.
The track will consist of field components – a football pitch, security fencing, drainage, rest room, among others.

Back in October 2017, Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr George Norton, who has responsibility for Sport, disclosed that the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board has approved the award of a contract totalling $160M for the construction of two 400m synthetic tracks of which one will be placed in Region 10 and the other in Region 6.
The $160M was awarded to BSW Regupol.