Rubber surface finally laid at Leonora

—Dalchand expects facility to be functional by third quarter of the year

After several delays, the rubber surface of the Leonora Synthetic Track facility is completely laid and the venue should be able to host events by the third quarter of the year.

The rubber will, however need a week of full sunshine for the colour and lane markings to be sprayed onto the black rubber surface by the German company BSW Regopul.

During Stabroek Sport’s visit to the facility on Saturday with Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Sport Steve Ninvalle, he disclosed that despite the developments, the Sport Ministry was still not pleased with the speed of the ongoing works.

Works ongoing at the Leonora Synthetic Track. (Orlando Charles photo)
Works ongoing at the Leonora Synthetic Track. (Orlando Charles photo)

“We are concerned with the pace that the contractors are going at but nevertheless there is development but development at a pace we are not comfortable with,” Ninvalle pointed out.

“So every day we are urging them (the contractors) to meet deadlines.

One of the major developments is the construction of the eastern stands, I think it’s about 65-70 percent completed but we need to see the workers moving at a faster pace.”

Managing Director of Innovative Engineering Consultancy Services, Deoraj Dalchand explained some of the work that has been ongoing and relayed new deadlines for specific projects of the track.

“The stands (Eastern) are expected to be finished in March, the Club House is expected to be finished in July, the roads are expected to be completed in April and overall we are looking at this project being functional providing we can get the track laid and we get some good weather probably in the third quarter of the year,” Dalchand said.

According to Dalchand, the ticketing booths are almost completed while the base for all the field event disciplines have been installed. “The material for the spraying and finishing of the synthetic surface is already in Guyana and waiting for the one week window to be completed.” (Emmerson Campbell)