Millions being expended on athletics facilities – Ramson reveals

Track resurfacing for Guyana’s only operable track and field facility at Leonora, WCD and completion of construction of two similar facilities at Linden and Berbice are carrying quite a hefty price tag, according to Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr.
Ramson made this disclosure on Saturday last as he welcomed the return of Guyana’s successful Commonwealth Youth Games team, who returned with 4 medals from the multi-sport event.
In discussing investments made by various stakeholders in the success of Guyana’s track and field athletes, Ramson Jr. ventured into the topic of facilities, which are being rapidly perused by the Government.

“…our investment from the Government side, which is significant on the facilities that we’re doing right now, and on the programme, etcetera. So, for example, you’ll see that the Leonora resurfacing has started, as I said it would, and will be completed in maybe about 2 weeks or so, once we get good weather. That single repair was $78M,” Ramson jr. revealed.
Adding, “Just so that you get an idea of the kind of investment we have to make from the Government side just for the facilities”, the Sport Minister ventured into sharing an update on the other two facilities at Linden and Berbice, which are in various stages of construction.
At Linden, the track has been laid, but supporting facilities are needed for optimal use, whereas in Berbice the track is yet to be laid. According to the Minister, use of the track in Linden for training and surfacing the Berbice Track are not too far away.

Ramson disclosed, “When we’re finished with the two stadiums, we’ll probably be investing somewhere in the region of about $500M each. That’s the two new stadiums – the one in Linden, which I just met with the athletes to start making the arrangements for them to have access as early as next week; and the other one (in Berbice, on which) we’re going to start laying the synthetic material later on in the year, this year.
“Those are significant bits of investment that we’re making on the Government side,” he added on the topic of investment. “But no amount of investment that we’ve made can ever compare to the investment that you, as parents, would’ve made.”