-as part of the ground enhancement project, Minister Ramson says

THE community ground at Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara, is set to undergo a massive redesign that will transform it into a multi-purpose facility that is similar to a “mini national park structure”.
This was disclosed by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson, on Tuesday, during a walkabout at Success Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara.
Minister Ramson stated that this move comes as part of his ground enhancement project which will see several community grounds undergoing significant rehabilitative and maintenance work.

Further, he disclosed that the Cornelia Ida community ground will be one of the first grounds to benefit from the initiative.
“We are changing the orientation of many of the grounds because the population is changing, their expectations are changing, so some of the grounds we are actually going to turn into parks. We have already had to engage with the Cornelia Ida community to turn that ground into a park, something equivalent to a smaller version of the National Park,” said Ramson.
He informed that several other community grounds will be redesigned to not fit in with a specific sport. He believes this would ensure maximum usage of these spaces within the communities.

“Some of the other grounds, too, they are going to be a lot more specialized in particular sports, so some grounds are going to be particularly built, designed and enhanced for particular sports, like one ground will be focusing on cricket, another ground would be focusing on football, and we are going to have some multi-purpose facilities on the other grounds,” Minister Ramson explained.
He disclosed that the ministry undertook surveys to ensure that the redesign of the grounds would meet the needs of the communities. He made reference to the pilot Cornelia Ida ground that is being set up to provide the residents with the opportunity to engage in various activities, including leisure time and health and fitness.
“As a resident, you want to be able to use community grounds in a different way.

Not everyone wants to play cricket. My mom or the aunties in the village, they don’t want to play cricket, sometimes they don’t want to watch cricket, they want to be able to use these grounds for leisure purposes, they want to be able to use it for social purposes, they also want to be able to use it for fitness and exercise because it helps them to lead a better and healthier life and increase their life expectancy,” Minister Ramson said.
He added that even though the project is in the infancy stage, he and his team are taking an aggressive and wide-reaching approach to ensure that the aim is met.

Minister Ramson said that this project is expected to benefit all communities across Guyana.
He reminded that while this project will benefit the residents, they have a responsibility to ensure that it is a success by taking care of the facilities.
“We have really awakened this sense of national pride and wanting to be able to build on partnerships. You’ve heard me speak about it on a number of occasions now. You’re really going to see how that translates into a lot of tangible things because when we start doing these community projects, it’s the community that has to participate, it’s the community that has to be involved in the management,” Minister Ramson noted.