The Government of Guyana in collaboration with the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) has undertaken rehabilitation works to the South Dakota Circuit in an effort to upgrade the facility to international standards.
According to a release from the Department of Information, it is the aim of the government to boost sports tourism here.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, visited and inspected the facility on Thursday on behalf of President Irfaan Ali.
During the Minister’s visit, he was given a tour of the new racing track. The upgrade is part of government’s strategic partnership with the GMR&SC to upgrade the facility to international standards to cater for a more advanced level of the sport, a release from the DPI stated.
“While historically we have been able to attract motor racers from elsewhere in the region we want to make this a major event we want to build around the the racing days of the calendar,” said Singh.
Singh said plans are also on stream to have world class racers participate her upon the completion of the project.
“First of all we want to be able to have world-class certifiable racers in Guyana which means whether it is Level Three in the Formula One association classification, in the first instance, bringing the track up to a level that we can have internationally recognized racers here requires an upgrade in the infrastructure but also building our own calendar of events around it.”
Singh said the government was partnering with the GMR&SC to realize their combined objectives.
“We’ve entered a strategic partnership with the GMR&SC under which we are going to be supporting the club in upgrading the driving track,” he said.
“So that work has already started, the laying of the new track. The club is also of course engaging in its own resource mobilisation efforts, additional resource complementary efforts which are aimed at ultimately bring the track up to international certifiable standards and once this track is completed by November, we are going to have the driving surface in place, but when we put in all of the accompanying safety features and so on, around the track by which will be completed by the first quarter of next year, we will in fact have the most modern and best motor racing track in the whole of the Caribbean.”
Dr. Singh explained that President Irfaan Ali’s vision for the country includes diversifying the productive sector of the country including tourism and its various subsectors such as sports tourism so that visitors can have a full experience during their attendance at the major and popular events in the country.
Mahendra Boodhoo, Chairman of the GMR&SC, thanked Singh for the government’s support and contribution.
“We have started the first phase of getting the track up to standard. Then we’ll move on to the other phases. I’m very thankful to the Government of Guyana, for the partnership that we’ve been able to develop. The contribution has been tremendous, the support from the private sector has been tremendous, we, as an entity from our executives and our membership have been tremendous to see this come to fruition.”
The first set of testing will be on Wednesday ahead of the GMR&SC race of Champions set for November 12-13.