The stadium slated for Palmyra, Region Six is expected to be functional by the end of 2025 as clearing of land has already commenced at the location, President Irfaan Ali disclosed yesterday as his office wrapped up a two-day programme in Ber-bice.
According to the President, with the housing programme at Fort and the urban area at Palmyra, this year over $10b is expected to be expended in private and public investments.
In October 2022, President Ali detailed the development slated for Palmyra, on the East Berbice including the building of the new International Cricket Council-standard stadium. At that time, he had said that they had already approved private sector investment for a new state-of-the-art mall, a new hotel, a recreational centre, a hospital, a centre for persons with disabilities, and a call centre.
Focusing on the stadium, Ali said that they are now finalizing the cost. He disclosed that conceptually the stadium will have a minimum seating capacity of 10,000, external parking and an ecosystem will be built around the stadium itself.
While visiting the Palmyra location last evening after wrapping up his outreach at State House, New Amsterdam, Ali announced that on the stadium’s outskirts, a motor racing track will be built, as according to him residents of Region Six and nearby Suriname are known motor racing fanatics.
He stressed, “We will be optimizing the development there and creating athletic opportunities”, adding that the project will be done with varying dimensions and modern planning.
Noting that they have already commenced clearing of lands, Ali said that if all goes well they are hoping the stadium will be completed by the end of 2025 to host activities.
Ali said that with the massive investment being made in Region Six, residents have a lot to look out for. He said that with plans to expand bridges and the highway to four lanes, construct a call centre and a business centre for disabled people which are both ongoing, the oil refinery which is being looked at, expansion of the port facilities, the housing programmes, the expansion of private sector investments and the development of a new urban area in Palmyra “there is tremendous energy in the region.”
The Office of the President staff and representatives from the various ministries and agencies were at State House in New Amsterdam over the last two days, a new initiative by President Ali to have his office operate in a different region every month.
At the end of the second day yesterday, Ali said that they were able to meet in totality with over 2200 persons, with 75 % of those being female.
At the location, almost 200 titles and transports were processed and distributed, while the regularization and distribution of titles for a 23-lot squatter settlement in Johns, Port Mourant was fast-tracked. “That area is now fully regularized with all the titles completed within 24 hours”, he said.
Investment at the community level
Touching on the scale of investment at the community level, Ali said that they were able to allocate over 50 house lots, more than 50 low-income homes, and five core homes applications.
In terms of issues arising around the public works, Ali noted that they were able to deal with over 100 complaints about roads, bridges, and sea defence structures across the region. “As a result of this, we already have engineers on the ground working” to fix some of the “important problems” which will bring great relief to the residential, commercial, and agriculture sectors.
Moving to health, he said they were able to have a firsthand analysis of what is taking place in the region, and while there have been “great improvements” in the delivery and access to drugs and medical supplies “there are still very important gaps that we can cover in the coming months.”
For the NIS, almost 200 cases were dealt with at the location and he said about 40% were resolved, 20% are in the process of being resolved and follow-up actions will be taken on the rest.
More than 160 persons visited the location yesterday to apply for GOAL scholarship programmes.
A section of the gathering at State House yesterday.
