About $76 million will be spent on the redevelopment of the National Stadium, in St Andrew.
The 60-year-old structure is under the Jamaica 60 Legacy Program, which will focus on building the country’s infrastructure.
In her contribution to the Sectoral Debate 2022/23, the Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, Mr. Olivia Grange emphasized that the projects cannot be completed within a year, “but will be completed over a period of years”.
General Manager for Independence Park Limited (IPL), Major Desmon Brown, says the Stadium complex will benefit from state-of-the-art facilities aimed at modernizing the facility.
He says the estimated cost was derived from a government-commissioned study, undertaken by consultants, to determine the requirements for modernizing the facility.
The IPL, which manages the sports facilities at the Stadium complex, has responsibility for the National Arena, the National Indoor Sports Centre, the National Aquatic Center and the East Stadium.
Major Brown points out that the Ministry of Finance and Public Service now requires “detailed drawings and detailed bills of quantities and costs”.
“That’s where we’re going now. So we are nowhere [near] starting to build at this point. We have to get them [drawings and bills] done for the Ministry of Finance”, he says, emphasizing that the work will not be approved until they are submitted.
Major Brown says that over the years some renovation and reinforcement work has been done at the Stadium.
These included the final painting for the Carifta Games and the Grand Independence Gala.
Additionally, the running track was resurfaced at a cost of $60 million and an outdoor basketball court was installed.
Major Brown says conditions at the stadium, which was built in 1962, no longer meet international standards, necessitating an upgrade.
“However, we are allowed to host international meetings under a grandfather clause, but we don’t know how long it will last,” he informs.
A grandfather clause is an exemption that allows people or entities to continue with activities that were approved before the new rules came into effect.
Major Brown says one of the latest requirements for hosting sporting events is for venues to have a designated anti-doping facility.
He notes, however, that when the stadium was built, “drug testing” was not part of the requirements.
“At the moment, what we do is turn the dressing room into a doping station, which is not the best thing. they [also] now they require athletes and officials not to enter the stadium in the same area, and our media facility is woefully inadequate,” he informs, adding that the dressing rooms, bathrooms, storage, security and catering facilities need improvement.
The redevelopment project will include an increase in seating capacity from 35,000 to 40,000.
“We will remove the cycle track, which is no longer usable. This will give us more space and bring the spectators closer to the action,” says Major Brown.
It reveals that the outdated 500m cycling track that borders the running track inside the stadium will be replaced by a modern 250m velodrome.
“A modern velodrome has much steeper sides. It is much smaller, about 250 to 300 meters. In fact, what should we do now, when our athletes train [is] they must be sent to either Cuba or Trinidad [and Tobago]. They cannot be trained [the stadium velodrome] because when they go to a proper velodrome it’s completely different”, he informs.
Major Brown also advises that the media area will be upgraded with hardwired connections.
“What we’re looking at is… if a station comes in, all they have to do is hook up their cameras. We’ll also have a built-in mixing (sound mixing) console that will receive streams from outside… so there’s no need for people to use wires,” he describes.
A major part of the redevelopment will involve a complete overhaul of the bleachers to include the removal of all existing bench seats.
These will be replaced with individually numbered seats, as well as a partial canopy, similar to the grandstand area.
The general manager says the number of women’s bathrooms will also increase, as more women are now attending sporting events in the country.
“It’s not enough for people and when the stadium was built you had a lot more men than women attending events. Now we know that many more women are coming now. So what do you find at an event? [is] the men’s bathrooms take away the women,” he notes.
The redevelopment project will be undertaken in phases to enable the stadium to continue to facilitate events over the period.
“[For] in the first phase, we plan to take out the eastern part, which will get rid of about 10,000 places which will be rebuilt. When that’s done, we’ll roll out the north and south sides. So… even though we will lose a third of our seats, the facility will still be usable,” Major Brown said.
