Time ticks on World Cup bid
By Nicosia Smith
Stabroek News
April 9, 2004
Bye Bye Bourda... but will the new stadium have the same atmosphere?
As Guyana prepares its bid to be part-host of the 2007 World Cup, key to a successful bid is having a cricket stadium and the ability to cater for thousands of spectators.
The 15,000 - 20,000-seat stadium is to be built on 60 acres of land at Providence - at an estimated cost of at least US$20M and to take 32 months to complete.
"The key to everything...is that you must have a stadium fully equipped...long before the starting game," says Phillip Allsopp, bid preparation officer, whose position will phase out once the bid book is given to the International Cricket Council.
Antigua & Barbuda and Guyana are the only two countries which are submitting bids while having to build a stadium from scratch while other countries are only required to upgrade their stadiums, says Allsopp.
Moreover the stadium must be ready for ICC inspections and acceptance. Stabroek Business understands that if the cricket pitch in the newly built stadium is active for at least a year, this would be very desirable to the ICC.
The government has so far secured a US$6M grant and a US$14M soft loan from the Indian government. The Cabinet has approved the use of lottery funds to finance the site preparations (clearing, construction of bridges, levelling of the field, excavation work and building access roads) - which is expected to cost an estimated $80M.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Gail Teixeira recently noted that $4M has already been spent on soil-testing. However, funding sources for several million US dollars is yet to be identified. Minister Teixeira, head of the World Cup committee, had explained that businesses have pledged their support, but did not say what type of support the businesses were willing to give.
As an estimated twelve countries compete for one of the eight venues, required for the 51 matches, every element of the bid will bear weight. The US city of Miami is also planning to submit bids.
If at least eight venues are not found to be up to standard the region could lose its right to host the World Cup.
Guyana's bid book was recently given to the president containing 690 questions, as regards Guyana's preparedness to host a World Cup match.
The questions cover the available facilities e.g. a stadium; seating accommodations; traffic; transportation; public health facilities; processing of tourists (immigration); protection (police) accommodations(details on accommodating players and VIPs, tourists); environmental impacts and turn styles for ticketing among others.
The questions are presently being answered and an April 15 deadline is set to complete this process, according to Allsopp. This bid book must be submitted to the ICC by May 6.
"We are not going to say something we don't have," says Allsopp, adding that he expects that other bid hopefuls will be pressed to be as prepared as possible for hosting world cup matches.
After the ICC inspects the local facilities stated in the bid book sometime in June, Guyana will shortly know the position of its bid. In the event that the country's bid is successful, the ICC will determine what type of matches Guyana is capable of staging.
According to Allsopp, teams such as England, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, which usually have a large fan club, will see their matches staged in countries that have very large accommodations/facilities.
Accommodation
Rough figures from the Guyana Tourism Authority show that hotel rooms for coastal areas in the vicinity of Georgetown could fit 2,656 persons with an estimated 32 hotels/apartments recorded.
Occupancy for outside of Georgetown(including Bartica, Linden, Berbice and Lethem) is 662 persons with an estimated 18 hotels/guest houses recorded. The interior resorts' occupancy level is 1,942 persons as part of 14 resorts.
Stabroek Business spoke with two consultants and a land developer, to hear their views/recommendations to solve the issue of accommodating some 100,000 tourists expected to visit the Caribbean for the World Cup.
One engineering consultant is of the view that if hotels must be built then they should be five-star facilities, which he says would cost millions of dollars.
This type of facility would be necessary for visitors from countries like Europe, South Africa, Australia, North and South America who are accustomed to a certain type of lifestyle, the consultant explained.
As it stands now, Le Meridien Pegasus with 130 rooms is considered to be Guyana's only premier hotel.
Another option to solving the occupancy situation is to build low income homes which can accommodate tourists. This engineering consultant believes that the homes should be close to the stadium and be constructed to have the feel of a cricket village.
This idea is similar to recommendations made by the World Cup Cricket Commit-tee(WCCC) which had stated that 400 to 500 houses should be built in a 'World Cup Cricket Village.' The village was likened to Festival City coming out of Carifesta in the 70s. Government officials also backed having a cricket village.
A building consultant cautioned that before any consideration is given to building hotels for the World Cup, the investor should consider the viability of his investment after the event.
The consultant asks if a five-star hotel of 2000 rooms is built for the 2007 World Cup who will fill it afterwards?
This building consultant also adds that if hotels are to be built for this tournament, it would have to be done in a timely manner, adding that a 100 room, five-star hotel would take at least 18 months to complete.
So far, one solution to the accommodation problem mentioned by government and cricket officials, - building homes which can later be sold - is the most cost effective, says one land developer.
He notes that his company would readily build 200 to 400-low cost homes which can be sold afterwards.
"You have to build the homes, that people will buy readily," he explained.
These homes would consist of two bedrooms, toilet/bathroom, dining hall and a kitchenette.
But the only stipulation for occupying these homes will be they can only be occupied after the World Cup.
"There is not a natural demand for [hotels]," the land developer noted, explaining that Guyana does not have a wide tourism industry, so investors will not be willing to build hotels for renting.
Cruise ships to the rescue?
Allsopp says no one country in the Caribbean may have full occupancy for all the tourists expected to attend the games. But tourist islands which do not have land accommodations, can make up for this by having cruise ships berth in their harbour and take up the slack.
Guyana, which does not host cruise sips on a regular basis can also explore this option, Allsopp suggested.