THE LONG AWAITED REFURBISHMENT of the Gymnasium of the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex should soon be under way.
News of this has come from Minister of Sport Stephen Lashley, who revealed that an assessment of the repairs to be done to the Wildey facility had already been completed by a technical team from China.
He explained that Government was now awaiting an assessment report, which would highlight the costs and the recommended action.
“We’ve had the visit from the technical team from China, and they have done the assessment of the roof and other elements.
“We are looking at trying to do an upgrade in terms of painting and so on, but the main issue was the roof,” Lashley told WEEKEND SPORT during an interview.
“They have done the assessment and that report now has to come into the Government, so I believe the schedule is to send that in to us within the next month or so and once that is done, then the next step would be to have them come back to do the actual work,” he added.
The minister maintained that the cost of the renovations and the length of time required to complete the repairs would be known only after the report was read.
The refurbishment is the latest in a string of major changes being made to the multi-sport facility, in hopes of transforming it into both an attractive venue and a revenue-earning complex.
Just under three months ago, the Gymnasium and then general manager Ken Mason parted ways following the board’s concerns over the facility’s inability to reach particular revenue targets.
“In short, the financial fortunes of the Gymnasium have significantly fallen over the past couple of years and it became readily apparent that we had to look at the Gymnasium as a whole and reposition the Gymnasium to ensure its viability,” Lashley had said then.
And recently, he also revealed that the Gymnasium, the National Sports Council (NSC) and Kensington Oval Management Inc. (KOMI) could be merged under one umbrella following Government’s review of statutory corporations with a view to reducing duplication while amalgamating the duties and agencies to reduce overall costs.