The long-awaited commissioning of the 50m Olympic-size swimming pool at Liliendaal will finally become a reality this Friday when the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports is expected to officially declare the pool open.
Speaking with Stabroek Sport on Saturday, Permanent Secretary within the ministry, Alfred King, confirmed that the pool is set to be officially open this Friday.
An official press release with the specifics is expected to be distributed by the ministry today.
“Yes, [the Pool will be opening] next week Friday. The press release is expected to be sent out on Monday, everything [at the Pool] is in place.” King corroborated.
This latest development will no doubt see the swimming fraternity heaving a collective sigh of relief at finally being able to witness the realization of this mass infrastructural improvement which is expected to take swimming in Guyana to new heights.
Friday marks the culmination of almost four years of construction work on the pool, which was last quoted to cost some $455 million.
Located at Liliendaal, the pool has been under construction since January 2008, and had last been expected to be declared open in September 2010.
It had been said that the pool would be open in time for this year’s swimming events at the annual National School’s Championships that is scheduled to be held from November 14 – 18.
However, when approached on the subject, Minister of Sports, Dr. Frank Anthony, was reluctant to give any definite answer.
Yesterday, King stated that it is up to the organisers to decide where they want the championships to be held.
According to King, the Ministry doesn’t want “to jump the gun at this point.”
He said that if the organisers of the championship requested the use of the pool their request will be considered, but made it clear that it is not for the ministry to decide where the swimming aspect of the championships should be held.
President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Colin Bynoe, had last month indicated his expectations that the swimming championships will be held at the pool. The championships are organised by the collaborative efforts of the GTU and the Ministry of Education (MoE).
Further lending credence to the probability of the championships being held at the Liliendaal pool is the fact that the only other alternative venue, the Castellani Swimming Pool on Homestretch Avenue, is expected to be closed for a large part of November.
Correspondence has already been disseminated to swimming stakeholders informing of the closure of the Castellani Pool, which is controlled by the Office of the President.
With the closure of the Castellani pool, the only other option swimmers in Guyana have is the use of the 25 yard Colgrain Swimming Pool. Officials of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) are hopeful that arrangements for the use of the Liliendaal pool, following its opening, could be put in place to offset the effect that Castellani’s Pool will have on swimming in Guyana.
