A FRACTION of the rehabilitation work on the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) remains according to Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jnr.
Ramson on Friday informed the National Assembly the project is on target to be completed in September as he was responding to question from opposition member Nima Flu Bess.
Ramson said that the rehabilitation project forms part of the President’s vision for sports in Guyana, adding, “This project is in keeping with President Ali vision for creating Guyana as a premier destination for world class events. Having an air-conditioned facility that is modern and that caters for corporate sponsors appropriately is an important modernisation project to execute and advance that [vision].”
ECS Construction & General Supplies was firstly awarded a contract by the Government of Guyana in December of 2022 to rehabilitate the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall to make it better suited to host regional international events.
According to the sport minister, $47M dollars was spent in 2022, $237M million in 2023 and so far, $8M in 2024 with a further $59M budgeted to be spent this year.
He says they had the cause to remove one because of poor works but added, “We have completed the plumbing and installation, the main route, the side walls, the face of the northern front and extension and the sealing of the unit and vented walls. The only two outstanding projects which are expected to be completed by the September 30 are the HVAC and the finishing on the inside.”
Ramson said that issues with the procurement of the AC units caused some delays in installation but they expected based on discussion with the relevant companies that this will arrive for installation to completed by the expected timeline.
He said while the facility has not been accessible to the public, the court area has been in use by teams for practice.
“Once these remaining two contracts are completed and I expected them within that time frame or shortly thereafter it will become public again. When we move into the next phase which is the bucket seats, those are purchased, so we can continue to use the facility while executing those projects.”
The Minister said they will be a period for installation of the seats but assured it will be a short period of closure for the well sought after Sports Hall.