Following round-the-clock work at the Providence stadium over the past few weeks, Guyana is poised to host its first super eight match today despite completion jitters last week.
Chairman of the Guyana Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony told Stabroek News during a visit to the stadium yesterday that all systems are in place and in spite of all the negative publicity, cricket would be played in Guyana.
Anthony said the bowling of the first ball in the ICC CWC 2007 match between South Africa and Sri Lanka will prove that Guyana can deliver a world-class game. From all that he has seen yesterday, he was assured that cricket lovers were in for a treat.
Over the weekend and on Monday the rain had left the area around the 14,800-seat stadium in a mess; water gathered in puddles in the sandy car park and open spaces that have not been built up.
The spanking new stadium, built at a cost of over US$25 million with funding from the Indian government, has among its features three main spectator stands – the North West Stand, the South West Stand and the South East Stand. There is also the North East Grass Mound and the Party Stand (found next to the grass mound).
The Presidential Suite, located next to the South Pavilion, which is adjacent to the Players Pavilion, has a seating capacity for 318 spectators. There are also 24 12-seat boxes and two 24-seat boxes which would be mainly occupied by sponsors and for which there are special hospitality packages. These are known as the sky boxes and are located in the South Pavilion.
The media pavilion and media broadcast centre are directly north sandwiched between the grass mound and the North West Stand. The giant replay screen is located between the Party Stand and the South East Stand.
According to site engineer Walter Willis, only one third of the spectators’ stands are covered but they provide no protection from rain. Persons in the north-west and south-west stands would face the morning sun, but they would be protected from the afternoon sun. Those in the grass mound, party stand and the South East Stand would directly face the afternoon sun.
Willis, who has worked with the project from the inception, told Stabroek News that “all is set for today” and he expects all to go as planned.
The areas of concern which had been outlined to the Guyana LOC and had caused the ICC CWC West Indies Inc 2007 Senior Legal Counsel Derek Jones to write to the LOC about its loss of confidence in the LOC have been addressed and are operational. The overlay for the accreditation and media centres was provided by French-owned GL Events and the services provided by the international accreditation firm Rushman’s.
Rushman’s had expressed concern that because of the lateness of the handing over it would not have been able to provide the quality service for which it is renowned. However, from all indications yesterday, it appeared as though the situation was under control with little complaint about the accreditation process from the media, caterers, security and volunteers.
GL Events completed the installation of the turnstiles and was responsible for power distribution. It was working alongside the local power company, Guyana Power and Light; it was also responsible for venue graphics.
According to Jones, the ICC CWC West Indies Inc had appointed GL events as its representative to complete the work which Guyana was expected to complete and which the LOC has since said it had contracted GL Events to do. The CWC has also appointed a venue manager. Chief Executive Officer of the LOC Karan Singh said the CWC venue manager was supporting the LOC-appointed venue manager former sport minister Anthony Xavier.
Meanwhile, entry to the stadium for today’s match is through two entrances allowing for spectators coming from Georgetown and those from the upper East Bank Demerara. Spectators can begin entering the stadium from 7.30 am. There would be a “soft ticket check” on entering the stadium compound. Spectators would then proceed to a “security search area” after which they would go through a sterile zone for entry through the turnstiles. There are 16 turnstiles and four other entrances without turnstiles for VIPs and differently-abled persons.
An air of excitement pervaded the air yesterday afternoon as the weather was fair and workers continued putting finishing touches all around the ground. Caterers and merchants were busy setting up their stands, some decorating with buntings in the country’s national colours.
Not knowing what the ticket sales were like, some of the caterers told this newspaper they could only hope that food sales would be good even though their products would be highly priced. Asked to explain the reasons for the high prices they said they would have to make back some money on their investment. Each stand has seating capacity for 2,807 spectators, but the question is whether those stands would be filled.
Caterers said they had paid $500,000 for their concessions for the six one-day matches. The concessions are located around the concourse of the stadium and found under the stands. Among those catering are Roti Hut, KFC, Dutch Bottle, JR Burgers and Rose Bud Caf
