THE WAY FORWARD WITH THE STADIUM
Kaieteur News
April 12, 2007
The Guyana National Stadium will not become a white elephant since great plans are in place to sustain the multi-million-dollar venue.
Lights are to be installed shortly to play night cricket and some of the money from the ticket sales will be used to host Twenty/20 matches. In this regard, discussions with executives of Caribbean Airlines are already in effect.
Jagdeo assured that the facility will be used to the maximum.
“It will also be used for football, concerts, and Test matches. The stadium was built on soft loans and grants so the interest is not high and we can sustain it easily.”
Meanwhile, the president said he is exploring the various possibilities for the most effective management of the stadium.
“I was discussing this with the Cricket board as to how this will work… if you have a venue agreement, how we share the revenue, who gets the proceeds from the concessions, etc.”
However the president said he is leaning towards the having an independent group running the entity which will not necessitate the granting of subsidies from the treasury.
“In this manner we could get a flow from the stadium to the treasury, not the other way around… we're still exploring this but we haven't decided what format it will take. “
The President is also of the view that some aspects of the Sunset Legislation put in place to ensure security during the matches should be retained.
Jagdeo said he is prepared to lobby for the free movement of people to be maintained as well as the strident security measures that were in place at the regional points of entry.
“We can coordinate if we have a regional database to help us to catch criminals that move through the region. The investment we made we grandfather those to benefit the region in the future.”
Recently, Chair of the CARICOM Ralph Gonsalves said he would advocate for the retaining of the same two aspects of the legislation.
The President is confident that Guyana 's performance at the CWC will guarantee its chances of hosting ICC Champions Trophy in 2010.
Noting that the matches will only be hosted by three or four venues, the President said the excuses normally used against Guyana getting matches, no longer obtain.
“They cannot use the drainage issue anymore and they can't use attendance, because remember our ticket prices were the same all across the regions and people showed up and the organization and security was also great…we're going to fight tooth and nail to get some games played here.”