By Akeem Greene
Sports Minister Charles Ramson Jr. has revealed that the administration is in the research phase of a pilot project, which aims to develop all-weather facilities on cricket pitches in the country. The Minister made this revelation during a recent community outreach.
Apart from the National Stadium, Providence, and now the base of La Bonne Intentional Community Center, East Coast Demerara, there are few other grounds in Guyana that can host cricket during the rainy season.
The Minister wants such a change and is currently on a fact-finding mission to see how the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, through partnerships, can best improve some cricket fields in Guyana.
“Many of these grounds play cricket and it is important to me that these lands reach a level where they can play cricket on a regular basis, be it the rainy season, the dry season, and when rain falls soon after that he can still play cricket, ”said the Minister at Tuschen Sports Club during a community outreach on Saturday.
“We are currently doing the research so we can build those kinds of foundations. In the coming year, I’m going to be working with one of the regional bodies so we can have a pilot project so we can see if it works after these innovative ideas have been implemented , and if it works. the other grounds. ”
In addition, the Minister felt that there was a need for community land that not only offered the area for sporting activities, but an opportunity for families to participate in leisure activities or exercise purposes.
“Not all lands want or need to play cricket [and] that is an important point. These are community land and community centers, some of the foundations you have, people want to go take their families for recreation or exercise. The Ministry will engage with the regional bodies to identify grounds on which we can use public parks. We will still have cricket pitches. ”
In all his engagements, the Minister was determined about the need to develop partnerships to maintain the facilities.
The Minister promised to partner with the relevant authorities to see how the Ministry could best get those facilities back into a respectable state.