St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister and Minister of Sports, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas is of the view that the soon to be completed Conaree Multi-Purpose Recreational Complex will not only develop the sporting skills of the residents of the area, but also assist his Government in taking sports to a higher level.
The complex is comprised of a cricket field built to international standards and which will be used by World Cup Cricket 2007 for the teams from Scotland, Australia, South Africa and Holland (The Netherlands) to practice on. An internationally-sized football field; a netball court and a basketball court along with restrooms, seating and a concession area.
Prime Minister Douglas, who made a tour of the facilities in the company of Minister of Housing, Agriculture, Fisheries and Consumer Affairs and Parliamentary Representative for the area, Hon. Cedric Liburd; Minister of State in the Ministry of Sports, Sen. the Hon. Richard "Ricky" Skerritt, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports, Mr. Lloyd Lazar and officials from the Local Organising Committee of World Cup 2007 and the Stanford Group of Companies noted that the cricket facility, though it is going to be used specifically as the practice venue for Cricket World Cup 2007 in March, would also be used for regional and local cricket tournaments.
 |
| The entrance to the basketball and netball courts with the concession and restrooms in the background. |
The Prime Minister said that the government in advancing its own programme of building the infrastructure "will take sports to a higher level in St.Kitts and specifically St. Kitts and Nevis."Dr. Douglas said that with the solid thrust in sports tourism, it was necessary to build the Conaree complex "as part of the completion of the preparations for World Cup Cricket 2007."
"I believe that the facility would be available definitely for the development of local and regional cricketing skills after the visiting cricketing tourists would have used it in March of next year," said Prime Minister Douglas.
Minister of Housing, Agriculture, Fisheries and Consumer Affairs and Parliamentary Representative for the area, Hon. Cedric Liburd, noted that despite the setbacks, the new facilities would result in improvement in the areas of netball, basketball and football and cricket in Conaree.
"The facilities are going to be very good. It is going to one of the best outside of Warner Park and therefore I am hoping that the Conaree community will embrace the whole facilities here and make sure that they benefit from it in the future," said Minister Liburd, who has been updating the community of the progress of the construction.
He used the opportunity to express appreciation to the residents, especially the sportsmen and women of Conaree for their patience over the period they were without their sporting facilities."I know that there were concerns and they felt that the grounds should have been finished much sooner. It was not within my hands, but however as the Parliamentary Representative, I wish to apologise and to say to them that on the completion of this ground, the residents of Conaree would see the facilities and it will be one of the better grounds in St. Kitts," said Minister Liburd.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Sports, Sen. the Hon. Richard "Ricky" Skerritt said despite the delays the project has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for many reasons.
 |
| Conaree residents practice on the new netball court |
"At the time when the old Conaree playing field was converted into a construction site and moved across the road, a number of things that have happened since were not even envisaged at that time. For example, what has resulted here, is a EC$2.4 million facility, a joint venture between the Stanford Group and the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis," said Minister Skerritt.
He pointed out that the project has grown to that scale for a number of reasons because the Parliamentary Representative, Hon. Cedric Liburd, was adamant that the facility had to be significantly improved and that the inconvenience to his constituency was at such a level, that "it would be important that we think many years down the road and not just to replace a field." "So it became a multi-part project - a cricket facility, a football facility and basketball and netball facilities," said Minister Skerritt.
He pointed out that with the bidding for the World Cup in 2007 and the Stanford group replacing the cricket field, the opportunity was seized to improve the facility to a practice area for the visiting cricketers from Australia, South Africa, Holland and Scotland.
"Once we achieved the level of venue status for World Cup, we had to then take that facility and turn it into a much better quality facility. So this is where the government had to step in. The fencing of the facility and the pavilion in the cricket facility which is under construction at the moment and which is going to cost us some where between EC$700,000 and EC$800,000, is the input of the government of St. Kitts and Nevis, based on our commitment to World Cup 2007," Minister Skerritt said.
He added that the actual cost of creating the playing field with its high quality turf and the pitch is a Stanford project. The rest of it, the football, netball and basketball fields and the other facilities are part of a Stanford project, which is in excess of a million dollars. "So the people of Conaree will have a world class facility," he added.
~~Adz:Right~~The project supervisor for the Stanford Group said the netball, football, basketball and cricket facilities including bleachers, rest room and concessionary areas will be completed at a cost of EC$1.6 million.
