Members of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Asso-ciation (GASA) are said to be happy with the modification to the plans for the construction of the Olympic-size swimming pool and accompanying facilities at Liliendaal on the East Coast Demerara.
Changes in the design of the swimming pool complex have been incorporated into the construction, the members said. This newspaper was able to confirm this with the contractor yesterday.
The facility had been announced by Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony during the budget debates of last year, when he spoke of the government’s Vision 2011 for sport in Guyana.
He said this vision would see an improvement in sporting infrastructure in Guyana. The government has also announced that World Cup stadium builder Shapoorji Pallonji had been awarded contracts for the construction of two large sporting facilities — one in Georgetown and the other in Berbice. It was not clear whether there had been any public tender for the construction of these facilities.
Anthony had announced too that the facilities would augment the existing sport infrastructure and would include a synthetic athletics track and football field.
A visit to the swimming pool facility yesterday found work on the warm up and diving pool proceeding apace with a giant crater dug out by the contractors KARES Engineering Incorporated.
According to the engineers on site, the larger main pool will be dug to the west of the crater now being excavated.
Observers close to the swimming association told this newspaper that they were unhappy with some of the initial designs of the project, which saw the outlay of the main pool facing east to west. They said this design would have posed a problem for swimmers since the sun would have been in their eyes.
They were gratified that these shortcomings were addressed with adjustments made to the designs. With the completion of this facility, international swimming competitions could be hosted in Guyana.
The lead engineer on site told this newspaper that with changes now made to the design, it was difficult to determine if the facility would be completed in the stipulated time of 18 months.
The larger competition pool, 100 metres by 50 metres, will be situated in a north to south direction, the contractor confirmed. He said the smaller diving pool will be in an east to west direction and will measure 25 metres by 25 metres.
