THE stadium, which is being constructed at Palmyra, Region Six, is expected to be completed by the first quarter of next year, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson confirmed following a site visit and inspection on Sunday last.

“We are in a very good place right now to see completion by the first quarter of next year. Give and take a few weeks that’s the timeline we are projecting to see completion,” Minister Ramson told the Guyana Chronicle.

Emphasising the size of the project and the amount of material required to complete the sand-filling alone,  he said, “we had to do just over a 160,000 tonnes of sand to make that facility in a state of readiness just to commence and then a lot of pile driving etc. just to make the area sturdy enough considering …before it was cane fields; very swampy, very clay, very unstable for building large infrastructure like what we are building right now. It (the project) is moving apace.”

According to Ramson, all of the major pieces that are needed to ensure completion are already in the country.

“We had some setbacks coming out off India and some of the timelines with some of the logistics because many of the pieces were manufactured and assembled in different countries, so it was effectively assembly of pieces coming from different parts of the world,” he explained.

Further, he said, “It has been a lot of effort to get this project on track and on stream for completion by next year, which is what we expected it to be. I have no reason to doubt that we will see that completed by next year.”

Touching on what such a project means for the county of Berbice, Minister Ramson said, we can’t properly discuss “what is in people’s heart.”

However, he noted that such a project will bring major development to the region through tourism and entertainment.

“You will start to see hotels being built there; a lot of restaurants, entertainment types of facilities being built there and businesses which will drive employment… The value is also based on the love for cricket and just to be able to host international cricket again in the region.”

Meanwhile, Minister Ramson also conducted a site visit with the representative from German company Regupol that is responsible for the installation of the synthetic track in New Amsterdam along with  Minister within the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, Steven Jacobs and incoming PPP/C Members of Parliament, Suresh Singh, Zamal Hussain and James Bond.

In updating the media, Minister Ramson stated that the track and field and football stadium is 85 per cent complete and the installation of the synthetic track will commence this week.

Additionally, Regupol’s representative expressed his satisfaction with preparatory works and the weather conditions which clears the path for the installation of the synthetic track, which is expected to be completed in about five to six weeks.

Minister Ramson in his update stated that the ongoing works are in the final stage which will allow for the facility to be ready for use in the timeframe planned, once the weather remains favourable and the track is installed.