media_artricles :: 2013

Eddie Hart Complex to cost $190m

THE COST to construct the Eddie Hart Regional Sporting Complex in Tacarigua will be $190 million, according to Dexter Brown, consultant/project manager at the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SPORTT).

“It’s just shy of $190 million,” said Brown, during a recent media interview at the Tacarigua venue. He also stated the work will be done by contracting firm Calco Construction.

Looking at the scope of the project, Brown noted, “what’s proposed here is a multi-sport facility. What will take front and centre obviously (are) cricket and football but, through the provision of a multi-sport facility, we will have other sports like netball, basketball, (indoor) swimming and a host of others, about ten sports that will be represented.”

Asked if the facilities will be used for community-oriented or international- style events, Brown replied, “I would say both. There is a community-minded component of it as well as an elite sporting element of it. So we understand that we had to balance both because both groups represent legitimate stakeholders.”

He continued, “we will not prohibit the daily users from coming here but, at the same time, we will give the cricketers who have never had the opportunity to bat on an ICC (style) surface an opportunity to do so. And that would be just for the community at large.

“In addition, this venue will then be able to serve a larger interest of sporting events from the Caribbean.”

Brown revealed that the project is expected to take two years to be completed. “Initially the contractors had indicated a period of about 18 months,” he said. “What we asked them to do specifically is to do a phasing programme so that we would build it in parts so as not to disrupt all of the sporting commitments that were on the charts. And so, they’ve extended the 18-month period to two years, so they can accomplish that.”

However, there has been lots of criticism by a number of residents from the area, who are against the idea of construction of the Sporting Complex. “We’re in a professional position,” said Brown. “We certainly have to have empathy in all of that for the impact of such an installation. We believe that the provision of this facility will have a lot more benefit than the cost.

“In any project of this size, inevitably there will be a couple persons involved who would not feel fully represented with the installation. But, when you look at the wider picture, at the range of sports that would be offered and the way the facility will speak to the aspiration of the athletic youth, you can’t help but believe that there will be a lot more benefits than costs associated with the installation of this facility. That’s our position.”

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