By Tamica Garnett
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony yesterday declared that construction work of the Olympic-size swimming pool at Liliendaal has been “making steady progress.”
The minister made the remark during a tour of the site where he disclosed that the pool was currently in the process of having a lining installed.
Although he pointed out that there were other structural works being done, the minister said that the construction was moving along according to schedule.
“We started the work to line the pool, and the ventilation of the filter and other things, and I think we are making steady progress,” was his assessment.
Dr. Anthony stated that while there are deadlines for the completion of segmented aspects of the pool and its environs, no formal deadline has been set for the completion of the entire project.
He, however, said that he was very confident that, at the current rate of progression, the pool’s construction would be completed within the next two months.
“We have timelines for specific aspects, and I would say about by mid-September would be a safe timeline for when we can be ready to open the facility since many of the operational things will be done long before that,” Dr. Anthony declared.
Construction of the pool began in January 2008, and one of the major hiccups that the ministry was confronted with in the transition of the project from the planning to the implementation stage, was that Guyana contained no construction company which had ever before undertaken a project of this magnitude.
Nevertheless, on the wheels of their persistency and the advice of the International Swimming Federation (FINA), an engineering firm was contracted in addition to a leading swimming pool construction company.
The parameters of the pool are 50m in length, 25m wide and 2m in depth.
The pre-fabricated pool was constructed by Myrtha Pools, one of the leading companies in the world in pool construction and the construction is currently under the management of the chief sub-contractor for Myrtha Pools, Norbert Schmidt.
The swimming pool when completed, is expected to highly impact on the development of Guyana’s swimmers who currently are at a disadvantage when they compete in long course events in a standard 50m pool outside of Guyana since they are forced to train for short course events in a 25m pool here.
Dr. Anthony, during yesterday’s tour, re-established the purpose of the pool, stating that the possession of a 50m pool “is the way to go.”
He expressed the view that the pool was being constructed with the hope of raising the standard of the competition of Guyanese swimmers to be on par with the international scale.
“I must say that having a 50-metre pool is the way to go because this would be certified by FINA, which is the world governing body for swimming, and that is what we want, which is to be compatible. We want our local swimmers to train in conditions that they would experience when they go to international meet, so this facility would allow for that.”
Moreover, according to the minister, in addition to the pool being utilized for the further development of swimming, the pool will also see the ministry looking to broaden the scope of aquatic activities practiced in Guyana.
“Additional things that we weren’t doing in aquatics we would be able to do that here, for example water polo. We would now be able to train teams in water polo; we would be able to do synchronized swimming; these are new events that, because of this facility, once completed, we would be able to take part in.” Dr. Anthony stated.
Not stopping there, he disclosed that the ministry has already drafted plans for a number of additional activities that the pool will provide as well. Dr. Anthony stressed that the pool will be open for use by the general public as they are looking into “optimizing the utilization” of the pool.
“All the facilities that we have in the ministry we make sure that we optimize their utilization and this one will be no different. And, apart from the competitive sports, this facility will also be open to the general public and we will be training persons on how to swim, so we see a lot of utilization for this facility.” Dr. Anthony affirmed.
“We have already prepared a draft document with some of the programmes that we will be offering, and it ranges from a whole host of training programmes for people who want to learn skills like lifeguard training and various things that we will be able to do,” he added
The site of the pool will also feature a mound, expected to seat approximately 750 persons. And, while this may be a relatively small capacity for the high level of meets that the government hopes that the pool will be utilized for, Dr. Anthony explained that, nevertheless, this arrangement will be a vast improvement from the facilities that the country currently possess.
“We started with a mound and that would hold about 750 people which is quite sizeable and I don’t recall that we have any facility, at least not locally, where we can actually seat so many people to witness a swimming meet so this would be a very good improvement,” he related. “The only condition, in terms of sun if we have that during the day, is that you would be getting a lot of sun. But I think that generally, as the experience has been with the mound at the stadium, people can make it an enjoyable experience,” he added. Dr. Anthony suggested that this venture was a solid investment made by the ministry as the venture would not just focuss on the immediate developments that the pool will bring about, but will also play an infinite role in the future of the sport.
“We have to look at the future and the vision for that future. I think this is a very good investment, investing in an infrastructure like this is looking into that future where we would one day have someone, because of a facility like this, who would win a gold medal which is what we are aiming.”
