The Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) is in the headlines again, attracting a bevy of difficult questions. The indoor sports facility, the first of its kind in Guyana, was opened in 1975, and is located on the appropriately named Homestretch Avenue (this strip of roadway having served as the actual homestretch on the former D’Urban Park Racecourse).
In the early years of its existence, the building was simply referred to as the ‘Sports Hall’, before the Cliff Anderson tag was attached. Cliff Anderson, an important link in the legacy of the long line of boxing prodigies produced by this country, campaigned in Britain after World War II, during which he served as a merchant seaman. Anderson defeated nine British Empire, European and World Champions via the knockout route, but was twice denied British and Commonwealth titles in very controversial circumstances. The iconic venue has played a significant role in the development of sport in his country. Among the many disciplines which have made use of the structure are; basketball, boxing, hockey, volleyball, netball, badminton, table tennis, and futsal. The facility has hosted several international tournaments including the Caribbean Table Tennis Championships (several occasions), Caribbean Basketball Championships, and the PanAm Indoor Hockey Championships, and other social events such as the Mashramani Panorama Steel band competition.
In late 2022, the building was closed temporarily to facilitate upgrades to state-of-the-art amenities, including a modern heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and enhanced spectator seating (bucket seats). The initial announcement of the project was an advertisement in the Guyana Chronicle seeking bids for the renovation which an engineer’s estimate pegged at $103.6M. According to the ad the bid forms were available at the Ministry of Culture and the closing date for the submission of same was 8 November, 2022. (SN Sports, 17 October, 2022). A subsequent article in Stabroek Sports, published on 13th January, 2023, documenting the visit of a high powered team from the sports ministry to observe the work in progress stated that the budget for the project was $130M; $80M for the installation of bucket seats, $30 for the installation of air conditioning and $20 for rehabilitation of the floor. This first phase was expected to be completed in eight months.
Elsewhere in the media in December, 2022, it was reported that the proposed budget for the extensive rehabilitation project was $221.6 M, including $97M for the first phase, $12.5M for repairs to the roof, $37.9M for electrical installation, and $74.2M for HVAC installation work. According to the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS), which is responsible for overseeing the rehab, $351M, has already been allocated, of which $237M was expended in 2023. An additional $59M is required to complete the upgrades to the sports facility, despite assurances in Parliament last August, by Minister Charles Ramson Jr. (MCYS) that the project would stay within budget when concerns were expressed about financial oversight.
The last completion deadline was slated for the 30th September, 2024. However, the inevitable delays, (a national plague), were attributed to procurement issues such as the recall of air conditioning units. With officials claiming 85 percent completion, two entities were granted use of the venue over the holidays. The Kashif and Shanghai Organisation (K&S), which had been granted permission two months ago for their National Futsal Championship, by Minister Ransom (SN Editorial, Blurred lines, 13 November, 2024), utilised the building four times, on Christmas Night, Boxing Night, New Year’s Night and, Friday 3rd January, while the Elton Dharry/Randy Ramirez ProAm Boxing Card was staged on Saturday, 28th December.
Fans attending those events were greeted with a very impressively lit renovated glass facade, a dazzlingly lacquered floor with clearly visible coloured demarcations for various sporting disciplines, air condition ducts hanging from the ceiling, the original wooden plank seating now smartly painted black, and renovated washrooms (long a sore problem at the venue).As the evening proceedings progressed during the packed houses at the futsal tournament, fans discovered that the air condition unit(s) were inadequate to keep the entire facility cool, the flow of water at some of the sinks was poor, and there was flooding in the men’s washroom due to faulty plumbing. The glossy floor appeared to have been repainted and not resurfaced, and of course, no bucket seats have been installed.
These developments have spawned a host of questions. How has this renovation exercise ballooned to such astronomical costs? Was all this expenditure to date really necessary? Was the ambitious belief that we could host international events by upgrading the CASH to a modern state-of-the-art facility worth this expenditure? Who was responsible for monitoring this project? Was air conditioning a necessity? When we consider the already exorbitant cost of electricity in this country, who can afford to rent the facility and pay for the air conditioning? Wouldn’t have several large extractor fans installed on the roof and in the walls, powered by solar panels installed on the venue’s expansive roof, have been a more practical solution for cooling the air? In addition to the operating costs, what about the expected high maintenance costs for the HVAC system? Would the funds expended on the HVAC system in this instance, have been better applied to the construction of several similar smaller indoor facilities around the country? If, the current nightly rental rate is $50,000 for The Gymnasium (the other local indoor venue which is smaller) on nearby Mandela Avenue, what will it cost now to rent the CASH on a nightly basis? Which begs the question, did the K & S Organisation and the boxing promotion syndicate pay rental fees? If so, how much?
While on the one hand one wishes to acknowledge the government’s commitment to modernizing the CASH to international standards with a view to host world-class sporting events, its inability to efficiently manage the ambitious project begs the questions; Was it worth the effort? Can the relevant authorities manage it in the long term?
The CASH scenario is a mini expose of how the country is being mismanaged. Elaborate grandiose plans where basic form and function requirements are superseded with unnecessary trimmings, an enormous budget, and the awarding of contracts to firms with unproven experience in respective projects. Utter and complete disregard for deadlines, squandering of public funds from these out-of-control costs overruns which only serve to fuel further opportunities to justify extractions from the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Will this madness of squandermania ever come to an end? Future generations, by then bereft of the oil resource, will be left to ponder who were these people ‘running things’ when the oil money flowed?