By Treiston Joseph and
Yonalla Dalrymple
It has been 20 months since the deal for phase one of what will be Guyana’s first synthetic track has been inked but the first phase is still to be completed.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony had given the assurance that phase one aspect of the track would have been completed in the allotted six months which was projected.
“He (Courtney Benn) has given his assurance that he will be able to complete the project in the given time frame,” Dr. Anthony had stated in a December 17, 2010 issue of the Stabroek Sport.
However, despite Dr. Anthony’s proclamation, the track remains in phase one with the weather being blamed for obstructing the progress of the foundation works which is said to cost $124.9 million.
The phase one aspect also includes the completion of the parking lot which is far from being completed as well.
On March 18, 2011 when the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport inked a deal with German-based company Regupol for the start of the phase two project which would include the actual laying of the track, Jason Harewood of the Courtney Benn Contracting Service Limited had given an update on the first phase.
“Well, phase one commenced in December of 2010 and basically this project involves the general civil work for the entire area, drainage and irrigation work for the entire area, the road work, culverts, parking lots and track area.
“The main area is the track area and after the rain, work is currently being done on the main access road and the culverts,” Harewood said in an issue of Stabroek Sport on March 21 2011.
But last October, it was reported that phase one of the track was completed and the German-based BSW Regupol, which was awarded a $93,000,000 contract for phase two which included the laying of the rubberized surface would have commenced work shortly.
“We have completed the first phase. Very shortly the German company Regupol will be coming in to start laying the surface and after we finish that we go to building that structure around. The first is finished and we go to the next phase.
“Engineers from Regupol were here a month ago on a visit. They looked at the site and they have gone back now to start getting their engineers to do the surface,” Dr. Anthony had stated.
In April during a visit to the site with Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, reporters were told that the government was treating the project delicately since it was the first of its kind in Guyana.
“We are treating this project delicately and my only fear would be if the AAG does not utilize the track properly,” Kumar stated then.
The latest development is that the contractor who was scheduled to do the periphery works was fired because the work was delayed by five months.
“There have been some delays and in fact one of the contractors contracted to do the fence of the compound was fired,” Kumar told Stabroek Sport in a recent interview with this newspaper.
According to Kumar the termination of the contract was bound to happen because of how slow the work on the fence was moving.
“We have a problem with the contractors because they are working really slow and because of that, the project is being delayed, so we had to put somebody who will be focused and work with the time span that they were given to complete the project,” said Kumar.
He added:”One of the reasons why we had to terminate one of the contracts and try to see if we could get past stage one is because this project has not moved from stage one and it was to be completed since last year.
“This country has a problem with getting skilled persons to do contracts of this nature so we don’t have a lot to choose from so with that and all, we have to choose wisely in order to get work done properly,” Kumar said.
