President Irfaan Ali yesterday launched the construction of a $3.7 billion stadium and multipurpose facility at Palmyra, Region Six, with funds from ExxonMobil’s Greater Guyana Initiative (GGI), stating that there will be no excuses for not delivering the project on time. It is scheduled to be completed by 2025.
Delivering remarks at the location in front of thousands of Berbicians, who had braved heavy rainfall to be there, Ali said it was a historic day for Berbice and the entire country, as the sod was being turned for transformation and to build an inspiration of hope for generations to come “and we do so with our partners.”
According to the President, the stadium is an important part of an initiative, “to bring a world-class cricketing product that will be competitive to any you see on television… This vision is clear, nothing is going to stop us…
“We have made it our mission to work in every single community, to ensure that every single Guyanese is a part of the prosperity of our country.”
According to him, as part of his government’s plan, the journey of modernisation in Region Six will see the Berbice River fully accessible including the possibility of a new bridge across the Berbice River.
He said work is ongoing to transition the regional healthcare system and a level five hospital offering the best possible international care will be constructed in New Amsterdam.
In addition, the region will also see the development of industrial, manufacturing, and agro-processing hubs with the opening up of “tens of thousands of new acres of land for agriculture,” Ali said.
The region will benefit from an expansion of the highway to four lanes running from New Amsterdam to Molsen Creek, and water treatment plants which will provide treated water to every household.
The President also promised, “The creation of jobs, the opening up of new call centres, the building of a first-class, first-world technical training centre, the building of an international hospitality centre, the training of tens of thousands of Guyanese to work in the new economy, the rebuilding of community roads, the expansion of agriculture, the expansion of farm-to-market access roads, the development and modernisa-tion of our drainage and irrigation system so that we can mitigate against flooding…”
Noting the rebuilding of the sugar industry and expansion of new opportunities in health, Ali said, “these are the real plans for the transformation of this region.”
Meanwhile, according to the President, his govern-ment is strategically positioning the revenues of oil and oil resources “for the upliftment of the people of our country.”
Also delivering remarks was President of ExxonMobil Guyana Alistair Routledge, who noted that a country’s most important and valuable resource is its people and it is with that in mind that the company made a $20 billion commitment to the sustainable, economic and social development in Guyana through the GGI.
He said his company was “immensely excited to be a part of such an important project [the Palmyra stadium] in the country.”
He said the GGI identifies projects and programmes that align with the government’s development priorities. “This project in our minds is a prime example of this, specifically of the national development plan as it relates to the economic and social development of Region Six.”
Routledge added that the facility will complement investments that were also made in the school in New Amsterdam and the Port Mourant Training School.
Designed to ICC standards, the stadium, once completed, will house 10,000 spectators; it will also be multipurpose given that with minor changes, the field will be able to easily accommodate different sporting activities and events.
