The establishment of five synthetic tracks was main thrust of Minister Nicolette Henry’s address to the National Assembly on Thursday.
During her presentation, which was part of the debate on the 2017 Budget, Henry, who has responsibility for Culture, Youth and Sport said: “synthetic tracks will be laid in regions 2,4,6,7 and 10 for which $210M is allocated.”
This should augur well for Guyana’s premier athletes most of whom are based in the city and in Linden.
“It is expected that up to $10M dollars would be provided to enhance and upgrade identified facilities in every region,” the minister added.
Henry noted that the training and accreditation of coaches will continue in 2017 and that the Government of Guyana will leverage bilaterally with Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Germany and other partners to provide training in athletics, rugby, football, swimming and any other sporting discipline that technical assistance and support is available for.
According to Henry, the budget additionally includes funds for upgrading several sports facilities which will be equipped with Wi-Fi services where events will be streamed and aired via the internet.
The minister stated that the fiscal year 2017 will see the government developing and implementing a strategy for clean sport in Guyana.
“This strategy will include training and accreditation of our anti-doping officers. It will also focus on educating over 1500 young athletes in areas of clean sports and anti-doping. The Government of Guyana through the department will also continue to pursue at a minimum …international standards at all our sporting facilities, this will allow us to host regional and international sporting events.”
The 2017 Budget was laid in Parliament on November 28, projecting increased allocations for sport in 2017. For Capital Expenditure in sports, the ministry received $536,979,000 for 2017, compared to $295,460,000 budgeted for 2016.
