THE long-awaited warm-up track at the National Track and Field Facility, at Leonora, West Coast Demerara, is expected to be constructed and functional in 2024.

Speaking Friday at a press conference to reflect on the work of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in 2023, Minister Charles Ramson Jr. said that the warm-up track will be among infrastructural developments to be expected this year.

The Minister did not state when in 2024 the 200m warm-up track is to be completed, but rather noted that the ministry has to synchronise its installation plans with the availability of the experts from German contracting firm, BSW Regopul.

According to the minister, they have procured the necessary materials for the track’s construction, which are understood to come at a cost of G$19M.

The same company installed the synthetic material at the National Track and Field Facility in 2014, and, most recently, at the facility at Bayroc, Linden.

The West Coast Demerara facility was officially opened in April 2015.

Word is that the total sum needed to construct the first-of-its-kind facility in Guyana is just over G$1 billion.

In 2023, resurfacing of the synthetic track was completed at a cost of G$77 million.

Additionally, construction has also begun on an indoor facility in the compound, the first of its kind outside of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica).

The facility will boast dimensions of around 120x150ft (similar in size to the National Gymnasium and Cliff Anderson Sports Hall).

When complete, the facility will be able to host events such as boxing, volleyball, basketball, and table tennis.

Meanwhile, the minister indicated that construction of the stands, grass mound, and players’ pavilion will continue at Bayroc, and the new Anna Regina stadium, while they have procured bucket seats for the new stand at the National Track and Field facility.