Engineers group has concerns over stadium shelter, seats
By Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
May 1, 2007
If government is going to bid to host some matches in the 2010 ICC (International Cricket Council) Championship Trophy, it needs to correct a number of deficiencies in the construction of the stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara, a representative of the Guyana Asso-ciation of Professional Engineers (GAPE), Mel Sankies says.
According to Sankies, who visited with other members of GAPE during the latter part of the construction of the stadium and attended three of the CWC 2007 Super Eight matches at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, some of the areas that need to be addressed include the covering or canopy of the various stands to protect the seats mainly from exposure to the elements.
Sankies said that architects and engineers who are members of GAPE feel that the plastic seats in the stands would not last for five years. One of them expressed the opinion that "the plastic seats might oxidize within a short period - maybe two to three years - because of the exposure to the sun."
One of the concerns of GAPE based on complaints it received during the Super Eight matches was the fact that the majority of the spectators, especially those in the South East stand, were exposed to the rain and sun. "Thankfully to saving grace, when the rain fell on one occasion, 75% of the stand was unoccupied, enabling patrons to seek shelter in the higher reaches," he said.
Spectators, too, he said, who paid for certain facilities and comforts in the North West and South West stands, were also exposed to the sun coming from behind as well.
GAPE, he said, has raised the question, "Was attention paid to our climatic conditions when the stadium was being designed?"
One engineer feels that the maintenance cost could be considerably high and if the stadium is not properly utilised to generate its own income, could be a burden on taxpayers. He also assumes that if the cost of construction for the stadium and the stadium complex was US$40 million, it means that for every single month of the year, maintenance would be in the vicinity of US$100,000 a month or US$1.2 million a year in maintenance and upkeep costs.
Sankies said that, "In light of these problems, GAPE is obliged to be concerned about upkeep and maintenance costs, and whether the seats under the present exposure to the elements could last for five years."
He said that this question was also posed by some of his Caribbean and North American colleague engineers and architects who visited Guyana for some of the Super Eight matches who felt that the construction "did not take our weather into consideration and the movement of the sun. They felt that the chairs would not last for five years in the rain and the sun."
They felt, too, he said, that because there is no canopy, the rain will beat into the stands and would drain onto the concourse below as happened on one match day when people had to use brooms to sweep off the water. Some of the water also settled under the chairs because there was no means of draining the water.
Asked what could be done to protect from the rain and the sun, he said that it would be "very costly to add to the shelter given the money that was already spent on it," he said.
He said that draining water from the stands below the seats would also be difficult since the drains should have been built during construction when the concrete was being set. "They can't do that now," he said adding that had GAPE's professional expertise been sought and utilised, these problems of poor engineering would never have arisen."
Asked whether GAPE had made any recommendations to the government or the architect or builders of the stadium, Sankies said that GAPE had never been consulted and had also sought unsuccessfully to visit the stadium during the construction stages but to no avail. Eventually some of the members were given permission by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport in late February or early March this year after he was approached.
During that visit, he said that the GAPE representatives had indicated an interest in meeting with the architect but that never occurred. A number of University of Guyana civil engineering architectural students were however given permission to visit the stadium.
Quite in contrast to not having access to the Providence stadium, Sankies said that Guyanese engineers on a visit to Barbados to attend a Caribbean engineers' conference called up the contractors rebuilding the Kensington Oval to have a look at the project and were invited to tour the project. "They also went into details on the project," he said adding that, "it was significant that there were Guyanese engineers and all categories of construction workers in the lead at Kensington."
Like Barbados, he said they noted that in the renovation of the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad and Tobago, the engineers maintained much of the old design which included adequate covers for certain stands to provide for the region's tropical weather.
Referring to the state of the car park, GAPE noted that it is one area that has to be developed, "if we are going to bid for the ICC championship trophy."
While GAPE expressed concern that the road from the Demerara Harbour Bridge to the stadium was not completed in time for the Super Eight matches, the project engineer Walter Willis told the Stabroek News that work, which had ceased during the match period, has resumed and the works would be completed by May month end.
Asked to comment on GAPE's concerns about the deficiencies in the construction of the stadium, Willis said that GAPE should address its concerns to the Ministry of Public Works and Communi-cation.
When asked at a press conference, he hosted earlier this month, President Bharrat Jagdeo had said that stadia worldwide, were basically the same and did not see the issue of the shelter being such a big issue. He had challenged those questioning the architecture to "Google" on the internet to see their designs.
He had said, too, that a new management formula was being looked at for the Providence stadium. Other facilities for the stadium, he had said, would include additional lighting for playing cricket at nights and a whole range of activities.
It is intended that the stadium would be used to the maximum to include football matches, concerts and church activities with special protection for the cricket pitches, Jagdeo had said. It is to be run in such a way so that it would generate its own maintenance revenue.
Noting that Guyana would be putting in its bid to host the 2010 ICC Championship Trophy, he had said that the organisers "cannot use rain", non-attendance at cricket matches or poor security to exclude Guyana from being among the three or four Caribbean venue to host matches. The cup final in Barbados was seriously affected by rain.
The India-financed stadium was designed by C.R. Narayana Rao of CRN Architects and Engineers of India and was constructed by Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Limited of India.