— much to the delight of Min. of Culture, Youth & Sport

OVER the weekend, Minister of Culture, Youth & Sport, Mr. Charles Ramson Jr. paid a visit, as promised, to the site of the proposed football stadium currently being developed at Providence, East Bank Demerara, to assess what work that has been done so far on the facility.

And, having liked what he saw, the minister couldn’t help but say how pleased he was with the way the project was coming along.
“I’m pretty impressed overall with the pace of the work, and also the quality of the work being done here by the Guyana Football Federation, and under the leadership of Wayne Forde,” the Minister said.

Giving a background as to how the project came about, Minister Ramson disclosed that the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) was able to obtain a lease from the Providence Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in 2015, and that was where it all started.

He said that with sport being an important aspect of youth development and discipline, a project such as this is crucial.
As the building and renovations continue, GFF President Wayne Forde announced that the project is now moving into Phase Two, which is the installation of lights.
The facility has already been equipped with dormitories for players, an entertainment section, supervisor’s quarters, private washrooms, a bar, gymnasium, storage facility and kitchen, among other designated spaces, and will be fully powered by solar energy upon completion.

Additionally, the GFF is expanding the project to Ann’s Grove, on the East Coast Demerara, and in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
“We have identified the Ann’s Grove Community Ground, and we’ve been in discussion with the community there about an MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] that will give the Federation and its members some rights to the venue, and that is progressing very well,” Forde said.

Both the Ann’s Grove and New Amsterdam projects will each receive a $10Million allocation, Forde said, adding that the Federation is also focused on the strategic development of women’s football here.

In addition, the GFF also has “big plans” in store for D’Urban Park. “D’Urban Park, where it’s a 7.6 acres land,” Forde said, “we signed a lease about a year ago or so. It is going to be developed as the international football venue for Guyana. We’re getting support from our counterparts in Denmark for the engineering services, and in a few weeks, you will see work starting on the clearing of the ground.”

As part of the MOU, the GFF will be regularly engaging with the Government and sharing project designs. A key concept of the project for GFF is community involvement, as they aim to develop each community in which the programmes are implemented.