$35M upgrades for Reg. 1 community grounds
― Port Kaituma, Moruca, Mabaruma to see
─ As part of NSC’s 2020 Jubilee project
DPI Guyana, Monday, September 23, 2019
The Fitzburg Community Ground in Port Kaituma along with the Moruca and Mabaruma grounds in Region 1, Barima Waini will benefit from major upgrades as part of the $35M Jubilee Project in 2020.
The venture will include, the reconstruction and rehabilitation of fences, upgrading of the surface and outfitting the facilities with floodlights among other works.
This was announced by Director of Sport, Christopher Jones during the recent government outreach in Port Kaituma on Friday last. He explained that the project will be executed by the National Sports Commission (NSC) under the Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of Social Cohesion.
According to the Sport Director, the ministry’s engineer has already conducted the necessary inspections and assessments and has submitted the estimates. Jones added that the goal is to create spaces where the talents of the region’s sportsmen and women can be honed.
Prime Minister, Hon. Moses Nagamootoo along with Director of Sport, Christopher Jones handing sport gears to youths of Sebai.
The NSC has been organising tournaments across the country in various sports disciplines. On its schedule of activities in October, there will be an inter-regional male and female football tournament. Teams from the Matarkai sub-District will be meeting at the Fitzburg ground to participate in the event. Cash and other prizes will be up for grabs.
Jones reminded that the NSC has been working to ensure the community grounds are available to residents of various communities across the country. Several have already benefited from upgrades under the ground enhancement project which began in 2015.
Additionally, two years ago, under the ‘Light It Up campaign’, the sports commission outfitted the ground at Mabaruma with lights. This saw residents in the Matarkai area travelling to compete in football and cricket games.
“This puts them at a disadvantage because at times you have the winning team from Arakaka, Matthews Ridge or Port Kaituma and having to leave their home and travelling to Mabaruma to play in Mabaruma. The other team will have home advantage. So, by outfitting Port Kaituma with lights, they too will have home advantage if the champion is from there. It is a big thing in the world of sports,” Jones explained.
Primarily, he said, the aim is to ensure all the grounds in the Region 1 sub-Districts are fully equipped so the respective home teams can compete in various sports disciplines against each other and with other regions.
At Friday’s outreach, Prime Minister, Hon. Moses Nagamootoo handed over a quantity of sports gear to youths from the Port Kaituma, Matthew’s Ridge and Sebai.