By Neto Baptiste
Although not committing to a delivery date, Minister of Sports Daryll Matthew, is confident that the country’s lone track & field facility, the YASCO Sports Complex, will be completed in short order.
Speaking on the Good Morning Sports Show, Matthew said that workers at the facility are preparing to carry out the final phase of work before the laying of the surface.
“They have done all of the preparatory work in terms of the sub-base and everything, so the final layer is to start going on, and I am told it’s supposed to be about five or six day’s work, and it cures for, I think, two weeks and then the rubber goes down,” he said.
There has been much debate over the ongoing work at the facility which started in 2017 as it has faced multiple delays due to a number of factors.
Matthew said a number of dynamics has forced the government to press on with the civil works in a push to have the project move into its final stage.
“We’re expecting someone here this week [from track builders Mondo] and so between myself and the president of the NOC [EP Chet Greene], I’ve sent off some correspondents to PASO and Mondo because we have to proceed. We don’t want to continue to delay the laying of that final layer of asphalt because there is a lifespan on things like the adhesive which we’ve had for a while,” he said.
In a recent interview, President of the Antigua and Barbuda Athletics Association (ABAA) Everton Cornelius, warned that athletes may have to wait at least another five months for the completion of the facility.
Cornelius pointed to recent persistent rains as one of the main hindrances to the rehabilitation work at the Old Parham Road facility.