I welcome the decision by the Government to rename the Trelawny Stadium in honour of Jamaica's world sprint star athlete Usain Bolt but, of course, subject to its upgrading and development into a true multi-purpose facility.
While I do not intend to claim the privilege of being the one to convince the Government to do so, I hope that my recent public statement, revealing what was proposed under the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Administration, had some influence.
However, I noted that the current Minister Without Portfolio, Natalie Neita Headley, recognised at her recent press conference that the stadium is not yet a multi-purpose facility, despite the best intentions when it was conceived and built for the hosting of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
The Vision
The stadium is incomplete but has great potential for sports and cultural tourism if upgraded and developed into a world-class facility. As Government, the JLP Administration recognised that and did not sit idly over its four years in office without paying attention to the development of the venue.
I would like the country to know that on taking office in 2007, we looked closely at the stadium which was built for the purposes of staging warm-up matches and the opening ceremony for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. But it has never hosted an official international cricket match.
In addition, the decision to construct this stadium in the northwest section of Jamaica was based on the fact that after the World Cup, western Jamaica would have a multi-purpose stadium that could host local, regional and international events. Unfortunately, the facility that was eventually built was only a cricket stadium, without even lights to host night cricket.
The stadium was built under a loan agreement between Jamaica and the People's Republic of China at an estimated cost of some US$30 million.
The fact is that Jamaica's achievements, while being legendary, have been achieved in a nation where the state of its sporting infrastructure can be best described as poor. We recognised this and in 2009 embarked on a five-year programme to comprehensively improve the country's sporting infrastructure.
As part of this programme, specific projects, including schools and major facilities across the island, had been identified for major infrastructure improvement. This included the repositioning of the Trelawny Stadium; upgrading and development of the Sligoville Complex, including the Great House, which was donated by the Chinese Government; and the construction and development of the Herb McKenley Stadium in May Pen, Clarendon, which was being spearheaded by Member of Parliament Mike Henry.
In terms of repositioning the Trelawny Stadium, we noted that Jamaica had achieved a new apex at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and these achievements brought a renewal to the country's sporting image and reputation. Therefore, that legacy should be sustained through continuous achievements similar to or greater than that in Beijing.
This would require significant improvements in our infrastructure, but we felt that repositioning Trelawny Stadium to become a premier sporting complex would assist greatly in achieving these objectives, as we "looked beyond Beijing 2008" and towards how we could leverage our success worldwide through sports tourism.
The Objectives
What are these objectives? Jamaica is uniquely placed to host major regional and international sporting events and teams. Even with the poor state of our existing infrastructure, we had successfully hosted regional football tournaments, such as the Digicel Caribbean Championships, hosting over eight nations; Reggae Boyz World Cup qualifier against the Bahamas; as well as the Caribbean Classic Golf Invitational; and the staging of WBC Muay-Thai boxing, involving championship fighters from all over the world.
The proposed repositioning and redevelopment would allow Jamaica to invite the many national/international club teams as well as athletes of many different sporting disciplines to take advantage of Jamaica's tremendous culture, heritage, physical assets, sporting tradition and reputation.
As minister, I received many requests and engaged in concrete discussions with overseas sporting bodies, including the NBA, which was poised to come to Jamaica for pre-season training in 2010, but this was aborted because of other events that year.
The proximity of the Trelawny Stadium to over 5,000 hotel rooms makes the location even more ideal for exploring sport tourism, not just for athletes, but for fans, well-wishers and lovers of sports, culture, and brand Jamaica.
Sligoville Stadium
The Sligoville Complex, as a part of our sporting infrastructure, was not being utilised. Therefore, the proposal was to redevelop and upgrade the complex so it would become a training facility for visiting teams, and could be utilised by the University of Technology and GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sport, as well as high schools and clubs, for training camps.
Also, there were discussions about the Daniel Sturridge Football Academy being housed there. The surrounding communities would benefit tremendously.
Herb McKenley Stadium
We considered the fact that many of our athletes originate from the centre of the island, yet there is no major developed sporting facility in this part of the country. The construction and development of the Herb McKenley Stadium would, therefore, revolutionise sports in central Jamaica, and would also serve to honour one of the greatest athletes of all time, Herb McKenley.
Mike Henry, as Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon, started the initial work to construct the Herb McKenley Stadium.
Critical to our achievement in sports is also the role played by its educational institutions, from primary and all age to high schools to the university level. We recognised that all of these institutions required massive infrastructure investment and laid out a plan to achieve this goal.
Strategies
Fundamental to the immediate strategy, as we looked beyond the 'Bird's Nest', was to ensure that capital investment took place in the institutions that played key roles in this historic event.
The purpose of the proposal was to review the "possibilities" for the Trelawny Stadium, with a view to its development into a true multi-purpose facility and to be a nucleus for promoting sports tourism n Jamaica.
When the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture was given the responsibility of the stadium in 2007, my team and I sought ways to maximise the returns on the facility and to reduce operating and maintenance costs.
We had been working to improve the facility and to market it as the ideal sports and entertainment venue.
We significantly reduced the cost of maintenance from J$3 million to under J$1 million per month. The Government's total subvention to cover all costs at the stadium was J$5 million per annum. So the stadium was paying for its upkeep and we were actively working to improve the earnings to address the servicing of the loan, going forward.
We also started working with donor agencies to conduct a feasibility study to identify the most cost-effective approach to expanding the stadium within the wider framework of developing sports tourism in Jamaica. Once the feasibility study was completed, the stadium would have been packaged for investors to assist in the expansion.
Meanwhile, we continued our efforts to increase the number and types of events that were staged at the stadium, which was challenging, primarily because the facility was built without the requisite lighting. So we had been limited to hosting mostly daytime activities, including conferences and conventions, unless our clients were able to make special arrangements for lighting, etc.
In fact, the specifications and costing for the installation of the lights in the stadium were done by a company which was flown in by an overseas sporting body that recognised its awesome potential.
Our efforts were, however, halted in 2011 following the general election and the change in Government.
The Way Forward
Our vision in 2007 was to review the "possibilities" for the Trelawny Stadium with a view to its development into a true multi-purpose facility to serve Jamaica and the world, befitting the image and name of a Usain Bolt, a son of Trelawny.
That remains our vision in 2015 and beyond. The JLP continues to be committed to its development, with a critical role to play in the growth and promotion of entertainment, culture and sports tourism.
Olivia "Babsy" Grange is Member of Parliament for St Catherine Central and the JLP's spokesperson on sport.
(Trelawny stadium)
The Trelawny Stadium that was built in 2007.
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