– Alvin Johnson
The long-awaited indoor cricket facility will come on stream as soon as documentation in the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) office is finalized, according to under-19 Manager Alvin Johnson.
Johnson, who re-cently addressed the media after returning from the West Indies under-19 youth championships in Barbados, said that the facility which is to be built at La Bonne Intention (LBI) has been held up, awaiting the signature of a top GUYSUCO official to the land title.
Johnson added that the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) has already pledged over $1 million to the facility which will be used to complement the Providence National Stadium in the face of Guyana’s inclement weather.
“The blue prints are finished but they (GUYSUCO) are delaying the development,” Johnson told Stabroek Sport.
The development of cricket in the region can be linked to the Stanford Twenty/20 initiative where Sir Allen Stanford pledged to give the cricket board of some nineteen Caribbean territories some US$280,000 (G$56 million) each.
Out of this, $20,000,000 is for capital investment and to be used for facilities and infrastructure improvement, practice fields and other cricket equipment. An additional $24,000,000 will go towards coaches and players’ support and development ($2,000,000 monthly) and $12,000,000 for maintenance of facilities and equipment ($1,000,000 monthly).
Stanford has committed to continuing the monthly funding of US$15,000 to the countries over the next three years. He has also promised a further investment of US$100 million over the same period, US$20 million of which will go directly into grass roots cricket throughout the Caribbean region. (Ravendra Kishore)
