THE residents of Bartica will soon benefit from the new sports facilities being constructed at what used to be the Bartica Community Centre Ground.

The town’s Mayor, Gifford Marshall told the Guyana Chronicle that this complex will achieve a major objective of providing meaningful recreation to young men and women of Bartica, in addition to fostering social cohesion and boosting the sports sector.

He explained that the first council of the municipality, which expired on December 31st 2018, would have made a commitment to transform what was then the Bartica Community Centre Ground into a modern sports complex.

“Unfortunately we don’t have many grounds or open spaces in the community, so council would have made a conscious effort to begin to develop our sporting facilities so that our young people can not only become competitive in sports and compete at a national level, but at least they can enjoy on a regular basis, clean recreational fun, and of course develop their skills and abilities,” Marshall said.

With the support of the Ministry of Social Cohesion, Culture Youth and Sport he said, they were able to develop a fenced volleyball court, and build a stand at the basketball court. And with the council’s subvention, they were able to carry out major renovations on the actual community centre building, to which they now have a beautiful auditorium to host activities for the benefit of the people of Bartica.

However, though a huge transformation is noticeable, the playfield is not yet completed. Marshall said over the past year they have had some major setbacks to the completion, but assures the residents that all will be completed by the end of February 2019.

“We have had some challenges… The work on the field started since last year and there was cause for us to remove the first contractor and we are now commencing with a second contractor. The weather is posing some challenges but we are hoping that it is completed by the end of February,” he posited.

Upon completion, the playfield will have a new and improved surface and there will be installation of a perimeter drain to ensure adequate draining, Marshall shared.

Coming on stream very shortly, he revealed, will be a new stand to the tune of $21 million that was awarded to Courtney Benn Construction. That stand he said, is a double sided stand that will be constructed between the basketball court and the playfield, so persons can sit on one side to watch football and whatever game is being played on the field, and the other side of the stand they can sit to watch basketball games.

He said that the council has started some consultations with the aim of naming that stand the ‘Neil Hernandez Pavilion’.

“Because Neil was someone who loved sports and at a very young age represented Guyana. He would have contributed significantly to the development of sports and was a real role model to other young people within the township,” Marshall said.

Neil was a renowned football player in the community who died in 2007 at age 27.
Persons may have different views on who it should be named after, hence the reason for consultations, Marshall pointed out.

Persons expressed to this newspaper their expectancy for the completion of the playfield since football is the main sporting discipline in Bartica.