$850m sports facility for Tarouba.
By Juhel Browne.
Stadium to be named after Brian Lara.
Cabinet yesterday approved an $850 million multi-purpose sports facility to be built on farm lands in Tarouba.
A major feature of the complex is a $275 million cricket stadium named after T&T star batsman world Test record holder Brian Lara.
The project is due to be completed within three to five years.
Sports Minister Roger Boynes announced the allocation during yesterday’s post-Cabinet press conference at Whitehall.
The facility will be located on 180 acres of agricultural lands once held by Caroni (1975) Ltd in Tarouba, south Trinidad.
Tarouba borders the Pointe-a-Pierre and San Fernando East constituencies which are controlled by the UNC and PNM respectively.
The original construction site was Union Park, Marabella, but because of inadequate space it has been shifted to Tarouba.
The Lara stadium, which will include four training pitches, is scheduled to be completed in time for the International Cricket Council World Cup 2007, with the field to be ready by 2006.
“We have in fact got the confirmation that we will have (World Cup) warm-up matches at that facility,” Boynes said.
And he has assured taxpayers this project will not be a repeat of the Piarco International Airport terminal building project which was originally priced at $600 million but eventually cost taxpayers $1.6 billion.
Government has appointed the Urban Development Co of T&T Ltd to manage the project.
Udecott previously had the mandate to oversee the design and construction of the facility.
“Certainly, from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, we have hired Udecott and that we are keeping a keen eye on the cost,” Boynes said.
“We are definitely from our perspective, you know, are working hand in hand with Udecott to ensure that we protect the taxpayers’ money.
“As well as Udecott has had a good history...as not having too much cost overruns.”
Udecott’s chairman Calder Hart and chief construction engineer Ian Telfer gave a presentation to Cabinet on the completed design yesterday.
Minister in the Ministry of Finance Christine Sahadeo, who joined Boynes at yesterday’s press conference, said the proper tender procedures were being followed and “the terms of reference is clearly and properly outlined.”
She said the Government was very optimistic that the whole process would be transparent and had high levels of accountability.
“And I think Udecott has also given us the commitment they also made a presentation to Cabinet where they have agreed that really any variation at all would have to certainly be discussed and brought back to us,” Sahadeo said.
Hart said Udecott had decided to use fixed-priced contracts in its public tendering procedures even though “there has been some resistance from the industry to that.”
He said from time to time variations with the architects concerning the original design and must be dealt with, but there was no deviation in the contractor’s tender.
Hart said the facility was designed by the United States architectural firm Hellmuth, Obalat & Kassabum, which had designed similar facilities around the world.
He said the other components of the stadium were set to begin “showing up” about 18 months after the Lara stadium was completed.
What are we getting for $850m?
An aquatic centre.
Olympic-sized cycling velodrome.
Indoor gymnasium.
School for training of athletes.
A large car park, new roads and other infrastructural works.
The Brian Lara stadium and cricket academy.
This stadium will serve as a training facility for cricket players.
It will feature four indoor cricket training pitches with computerised biometric technology to measure an athlete’s performance, including two full-length run-up pitches for fast-bowlers.
Patrons at the stadium will have an unhindered view from every area of the facility, including the concessionaires area.
It also has areas specifically designed for the print, radio and television media, respectively.
The facility may also see the construction of a hotel in the future.
Private sector slams $850M sports complex.
T&T Newsday Reports.
The private sector is shocked that $850 million is to be spent on a sports complex at Tarouba, as announced by Minister of Sports Roger Boynes Wednesday at a post- Cabinet media conference. Some 17 top business associations calling themselves, “Organisations representative of the private sector of Trinidad and Tobago,” expressed their “shock and concern,” in a statement yesterday. They said the proposed expenditure would be made at a time when kidnappings and homicides are out of control and innocent children are being sprayed with bullets in their own homes.
While the group is sensitive to the need for social programmes, long-term planning, and the potential of sport to transform young lives, it said the country had other priorities. “In our view there is an immediate and urgent need for adequate resources to be allocated to the Police Service, Anti Kidnapping Squad, Judiciary, witness protection plan, and the nation’s jails, to deal with the clear and present danger that confronts us now,” the statement said. Moreso, they pointed out, the country already has four new stadia built in the past four years plus the National Stadium, all of which remain under-utilised.
“The population is living in fear and the country is beginning to experience a brain drain, and capital flight. “The time for appropriately prioritising the allocation of resources by the Government must be made now.” Previously, the group called on Members of Parliament to support laws to tackle the country’s rising crime rate.
The group consists of the American Chamber of Com-merce, Arima Business Associa-tion, Association of Trinidad and Tobago Insurance Companies, Bankers Association, Couva/ Point Lisas Chamber of Com-merce, Downtown Owners and Merchants Association, Em-ployers Consultative Associa-tion, Greater Chaguanas Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Greater Tunapuna Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Penal/Debe Cham-ber of Commerce, Point Fortin Chamber of Commerce, San Juan Business Association, Sangre Grande Chamber of Commerce, South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Com-merce, Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Com-merce, Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association, and Trinidad Hotels, Restaurants and Tourism Association.
