TECHNICAL personnel involved in the construction of a cricket stadium, in preparation for Guyana's bid to become a venue for the 2007 World Cup tournament, will shortly travel to India to meet with their Indian counterparts to iron out several technical issues before construction begins.
At his weekly press briefing yesterday, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr Roger Luncheon announced that the Consultant Engineer to the Ministry of Works and Communications, Walter Willis, and the Project Coordinator Suhas Joshi will be going to India to iron out issues pertaining to the peculiarities of the soil structure at the Providence, East Bank site.
He noted that both the Indian and Guyanese technical personnel agreed that a "face to face" meeting is necessary to finalise all pre-arrangements before construction begins.
Meanwhile, Dr Luncheon observed that surveys on the site have been completed and it was on this basis that the sum of about $80M from the Lotto Fund was approved to carry out several infrastructural works at the site. These include levelling of the field, installation of drainage culverts and upgrading the approach to the site.
Guyana’s Bid Book for applying to be a venue for the 2007 World Cricket Cup was officially presented to President Bharrat Jagdeo recently at the Umana Yana.
On receiving the Bid Book President Jagdeo noted that cricket has the ‘phenomenal capacity” to transgress all divides in the society and as such failure to become a host is not an option.
He conceded that being a host for events such as World Cup Cricket is a huge challenge for small countries. However, he expressed confidence and optimism that through collaboration and national support the challenges would be overcome.(Chamanlall Naipaul)