… Artificial turf to be completed by mid-December

HALTED by the weather since April, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) announced the recommencement of work at its FIFA Forward Project, formerly known as the FIFA Goal Project, which will house the Federation’s National Training Centre (NTC).

“Work was halted in April due to the unprecedented level of rainfall, which necessitated an adjustment to the completion schedule for the laying of the turf,” the GFF stated in a release.

“We are now projecting that the turf will be completed in the second week of December, 2018.

The GFF NTC is a FIFA Forward project and will be the first football-exclusive facility in Guyana. The construction of this facility was a campaign commitment made by the Wayne Forde-led administration,” the Federation added.

Works on the long-awaited ‘FIFA Forward Programme’ at Providence, commenced last September after finally getting the confirmation of the lease of the land earmarked for the facility and subsequent approval by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in June 2017.

During the tenure of the Clinton Urling-led Normalisation Committee (NC), the GFF on May 9, 2015, signed a 30-year lease with the Eccles/Ramsburg Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) for the 8.5-acre Providence Community Centre ground on the East Bank of Demerara.

This will be the first and major state-of-the-art football facility, which will seek to produce, among others, consistent levels of highly competitive and exciting football, that is a force to be reckoned with regionally and on the international scene.

The facility will cater for football development among both males and females and will be the focal point for football activity at all levels of the game.

Construction of the artificial turf will be done by Greenfields, a manufacturer of artificial turfs, in phases and was originally scheduled to be completed January month-end in 2018. Following this, the accompanying amenities will be constructed.

HISTORY OF THE FIFA ‘GOAL PROJECT’ IN GUYANA
In 1999, Guyana, Belize, The Bahamas, Nicaragua and St Lucia were listed as countries to benefit from FIFA’s new initiative, the ‘Goal Project’. FIFA president Sepp Blatter visited Guyana in 2001 for what was supposed to be the historic turning of the sod for this country’s first football stadium on land under the control of the University of Guyana.

However, Blatter stated that the building of stadiums was the responsibility of governments and subsequently revealed that FIFA would contribute some US$400 000 once the GFF is able to acquire the necessary land.

The GFF struggled for years to acquire a piece of land from the Government of Guyana until Moroccan Alami Binani made available to them a piece of land at Orangestein, East Bank Essequibo – a deal which was made under former president Colin Klass.

After Klass was suspended during 2011 in the famous ‘Cash for Votes’ scandal, the project was shelved with only a land-clearing exercise ever conducted.

Under Klass’ successor, Franklin Wilson, the GFF acquired US$500 000 funding for the resuscitation of the project after initially being allocated US$400 000.

Christopher Matthias, elected to the GFF top post in 2013, discarded the Orangestein land due to the uncertainty surrounding its ownership and the distance from the capital city.

He (Matthias) then engaged the government in an attempt to acquire land behind the Leonora Track and Field Facility, but nothing came to fruition as the government allegedly offered less than four acres which was not approved by the world governing body.