The state-of-the-art stadium, designed to International Cricket Council (ICC) specifications, will have a seating capacity of between 15 000 and 20 000 persons when completed. ‘Site Preparation’ stage is ongoing, according to an official of the Ministry of Public Works and Communication.

The official said that the ministry has responsibility for dealing with the physical aspect of preparing the site and has obtained the services of the Golden Star Contracting Services Limited to do the groundwork foundation of the stadium.

In an interview with Chronicle Sport, one of the managers of the company Khemraj Singh said that work on the site started two weeks ago.

Singh said his company had been given a total of 120 days to complete the work of land filling, grading, levelling and the building of three roads, among other aspects.

He said one of the roads would be 40 feet in length, while the other two will be 20 feet each.

One of the roads will be leading to the stadium while the others will be there for freer access to transport material for the construction.

He said that the stadium will be sitting on 2 500 piles and tendering has so far been advertised for the supplying of the massive piles.

The preparation of the land will cost approximately Guyana $71M.

The stadium will have some 24 months to be completed with the remaining 8 to 9 months as time for changes or adjustments by the ICC, according to Venue Development Director Donald Lockerbie when the Venue Assessment Team (VAT) visited on May 28.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Ms Gail Teixeira had earlier stated that the stadium is expected to cost in the vicinity of US$20M and the Guyana government through President Bharrat Jagdeo has outlined a grant for US$6M and a soft loan of US$14M from the Indian Government for the project.