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Posted - Nov 27 2002 : 11:28:44 AM
Mac
UDC invests in sports facilities
Wednesday, November 27, 2002, 9:18:49 AM
IP:130.91.16.87
Taken from www.jamaicaobserver.com
UDC invests in sports facilities
Observer Reporter
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
A game of volleyball in progress at the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport. The court and other facilities at the college have been upgraded by Urban Development Corporation (UDC), under the San Jose Accord.
FROM track and field, through to netball, swimming and golf, the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is moving to improve and provide sports facilities across Jamaica.
A release circulated by the state agency this week, noted that working on behalf of Government, it was spending in excess of J$1.7 billion on the construction and improvement of sports facilities islandwide.
Under the sports development segment of the San Jose Accord, the UDC is spending some J$1.3B on projects funded by the Governments of Jamaica and Venezuela aimed at bringing modern facilities to the sporting arena. Specific projects under the Accord include major improvement of the Independence Park (National Stadium, the Stadium Pool and Arena) Complex; upgrading of the GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sports, Frome Sports Complex and the provision of a new sports complex in Montego Bay.
To date, the UDC has completed substantial upgrading work at the National Stadium, bringing that facility up to the kind of internationally acceptable standards, which made it the venue for this year's IAAF/Coca Cola World Junior Championships in Athletics.
The UDC is now in the process of preparing for the World Netball Championships to be held here in Kingston in July 2003. The Corporation is renovating the National Arena, which will be a venue for the championships and work is now underway with the Venezuelan firm, Tecnoconsult carrying out upgrading including rehabilitation of the electrical and air conditioning systems. The contract sum for this project is US$3.0847M and it is being executed over a ten-month period.
In addition to that, construction work has begun on the provision of an indoor court facility at Stadium West. Under a US$6M contract with the Canadian firm, Trumbley and Hampton Inc., the UDC will provide an indoor facility housing two international multi-purpose courts and support facilities around which 4,000 persons will be seated in an amphitheatre type seating arrangement. The project will employ the use of the Butler prefabricated building system.
Among the other projects at Independence Park is the completion of work at the National Stadium, including the installation of a new class one football field inside the main stadium, the relocation of the old light towers and provision of spectator seating at Stadium East, as well as the provision of a practice field at the northeast end of the complex.
J$4M has been budgeted to establish the practice field while J$12M is budgeted for the installation of the new class one football field, in the inner stadium.
Over in Montego Bay, many games are played under the auspices of the St James Football Association at 'the UDC field', just off the Howard Cooke Boulevard.
In order to meet the demand for proper sports facilities in St James and the rest of western Jamaica, the Corporation, again through the San Jose Accord, is also in the process of constructing a multi-purpose sports complex at Catherine Hall in Montego Bay.
At the end of phase 2 of that project, the UDC installed a state of the art 8-lane all-weather running track and an inner football field. The corporation has packaged phases three and four for new financing to provide spectator seating, courts, external fencing, lighting and parking among other things.
And, under a move to increase the popularity of golf and provide more access to playing that game, the UDC is spending some J$34M to construct a golf academy and driving range at its Liguanea lands, off Knutsford Boulevard in the New Kingston hotel. The UDC has for many years played a role in developing and managing the Caymanas Golf and Country Club off the Mandela Highway in St Catherine.
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| Karl |
Posted - Dec 04 2002 : 09:29:59 AM
Stadium field will be much improved
Wednesday, December 04, 2002, 6:10:50 AM
Taken from www.jamaicaobserver.com
Stadium field will be much improved
GARFIELD MYERS, Sports editor
Wednesday, December 04, 2002
Jamaica's Reggae Boyz and Costa Rica's national team in action during last year's World Cup qualifying tournament at the National Stadium. That was the last game played at the venue. (File photo)
WHEN resurfacing work by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is completed, the football field inside the National Stadium should be a vast improvement on what existed previously -- provided of course all goes well.
In response to written questions, the UDC told the Observer this week that the existing surface material on the field in the 'inner stadium' will be replaced. The project will also include 'installation of an irrigation system as well as an underground drainage system to allow for quick run-off of water in the event of rain prior to a match,' the UDC said.
The state-run agency, which has responsibility for the upgrading of the entire Independence Park complex including the stadium, said the aim was for the field to 'meet international standards and approved FIFA playing requirements...'.
In the past, the notoriously tough and uneven National Stadium field has come in for harsh criticism from local as well as visiting footballers, coaches and analysts for being below and sometimes well below 'acceptable standards'.
The UDC reiterated an assurance given by its chairman, Dr Vin Lawrence, to Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) President Captain Horace Burrell that all will be ready for a football international game planned for February 12. That game will be the first football international played at the National Stadium since the close of Jamaica's 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign in November of last year.
The football field was significantly altered as part of renovation work to prepare the stadium complex for the World Junior Games in July.
Efforts by the Observer to assess the current state of the field failed yesterday as this reporter was denied entry by a security guard. The entire stadium/arena complex which was once easily accessible to all and sundry, is now tightly guarded. The arena is now being renovated and preparatory work has started at the western end of the Independence Park complex for a netball arena to be completed in time for the World Netball Tournament here next year.
A reliable source told the Observer yesterday that 'onsite work' on the football field is currently 'very minimal'. The bulk of the current work is being done 'offsite' involving the preparation of the new surface soil, the source said.
The UDC said in its written answers that the old surface soil in the inner stadium will be removed to the site of a practice field being developed at the northeastern end of the complex.
The resurfacing work for the inner stadium is being managed and carried out directly by the UDC on a 'force account basis' in collaboration with 'leading sports field construction company', Gregori International, the UDC said. Gregori also helped the UDC in preparing the field at the new Montego Bay Sports Complex.
In its written answers to the Observer's queries, the UDC said current costs for the resurfacing work 'are being finalised'. But in a lengthy feature on its sports projects published in the Observer last Wednesday, the UDC said $12 million had been budgeted 'for the installation of the new class one football field in the inner stadium'.
The budget for the practice field was placed at $4 million.
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