The National Stadium at Providence will, in a matter of days, again see sold-out audiences for home games of the Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW) along with the play-offs and the finals as the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) 2022 continues. With growing anticipation over the years, fans were characteristically vibrant in their participation throughout the innumerable and predictable celebrations for any given match.
This is what CPL has come to represent as it continues to bring people from all backgrounds together in a national demonstration of unity for a common cause. A mere glance at any given moment during a game would see partisanship abandoned as camaraderie and unbridled support reigned.
This is how it has been since the CPL commenced in 2013, and the organisers and franchises must be commended and encouraged to continue providing the opportunities to unify. The positive impact is not only invaluable, but seems even more relevant at this juncture. One critical factor to facilitate and sustain this is the stadium itself. Since its establishment years ago, it has come to symbolise a national vessel for togetherness, be it through CPL games, other sporting events, or concerts.
It is possibly an underestimated or even overlooked factor in its very important national role. Without it, what would have been? That’s an important question especially in the context of the iconic and historic Bourda Ground becoming far more easily inundated.
With cricket over the years becoming a more globalised sport and heavy emphasis on television marketing, host nations and facilities are thrust into the international spotlight. If, for some reason, that may have been taken for granted, Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007, hosted for the first time by the West Indies, brought home that reality. Host Caribbean nations swiftly went into overdrive to meet international standards.
Guyana may have been trapped with the Bourda facility, which, despite its glorious history, was riddled with drainage and some infrastructural challenges. That placed the country at risk of becoming a host for cricket’s biggest and most prestigious show. Not being a host could not have been an option. A bold decision was then taken to construct a modern facility out of the congested City. With work around the clock, the stadium was realised as was a brand-new mega hotel to boost accommodation capacity.
The decision for a new stadium, with infrastructure to facilitate concerts of international standard, exemplified visionary thinking with firm commitment to modernise Guyana. It was one of the many projects that saw Guyana’s infrastructural landscape being positively transformed and the provision of much-needed facilities.
The building of four-lane roadways along the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara, the new Demerara River crossing, the gas-to shore project, the Berbice Bridge, the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, the Marriott Hotel, the University of Guyana Tain Campus, the Ophthalmology Centre, new Regional Hospitals and schools, upgrading the electricity sector through new power plants and the expansion of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector are just a few initiatives that formed part of Guyana’s modernisation pathway, envisaged and implemented by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government.
The visionary Amaila Hydroelectricity and Specialty Hospital projects were scuttled by the then A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Opposition and funding withheld for the Marriott and expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
The transformation under the PPP/C is realised at a time when the country has experienced unprecedented and sustained economic growth for many years, helping it to earn the label as the Caribbean’s shining star. The economy boomed and it redounded positively to Guyanese as their standard of living and personal wealth were vastly improved. The post-2015 era saw a sluggish economy, and within mere years again under the PPP/C there is a stark difference.
