– GFF pushing to begin works by year-end

PRESIDENT of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde says that they are still awaiting the finalised engineer’s design for the long touted Blue Water Shipping Stadium.
The stadium is set to be built with financial support from Blue Water Shipping Company on a plot of land at D’urban Park.
The GFF President was speaking to the media recently and said there was a delay in the delivery of the design which is expected soon.
According to word, “We had announced that we would have the tender document and we had agreed timelines with our engineering partner, unfortunately they were not able to meet those timelines and we are very patient with them because it is a very complex design process and they are being very careful. It’s better to go back and look at elements of the design before we just hastily try to meet the timeline; we have been assured that within a matter of days we will have that.”
He says after completion of the engineering design, they will then engage stakeholders and a FIFA assigned expert before approaching their benefactor for financing.
“Then after that we meet with the Blue Water team, because we have to now discuss the business side of things and then the tender will be launched, my team and I are really pushing to have that commence this year,” Forde added.
The long-time football administrator says that they have avoided clearing the ground until they are ready to begin construction because of the cost associated.
“If I went and weed this today, next week it will be the same thing, so we are timing this up until we are nearing the commencement of construction then we will go ahead, any money that goes into to that will be wasted because it easily about 16 million dollars to clean that 7.3 acres of land.”
The GFF president also provided an update on another of the body’s ambitious plans to build full-size all-weather pitches around the country, saying work will not likely begin on those until 2027.
“Those are in the discussion; we recently submitted a draft MoU to the Government of Guyana because FIFA has asked us to do this in partnership and collaboration with the government. We are very optimistic that we will sign that at some point of time where the roles and responsibilities of FIFA, GFF and government will be clearly identified and we could push ahead with those projects, those are still part of our strategic plan, I don’t see us doing any of those in 2026.”