Tony Becca, Contributing Editor
THE NEXT World Cup of cricket will be hosted by the West Indies in 2007 and although it seems far away, that, to a number of people, is not so - not with so much to be done, with new venues to be built and old ones to be renovated.
Here in Jamaica, for example, there will be two venues, one for World Cup matches and one for the opening ceremony and warm-up matches, one will be at Sabina Park and one will be at the Greenfield site in Trelawny, and as far as the people are concerned, nothing is happening and time is running out.
That, however, is not so not according to Don Lockerbie, the venue development director of ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007.
According to the man whose vast experience includes venue development for the World Cup of soccer and the Olympic Games, things are going according to plan, and smoothly at that.
"We are going through the detailed planning re the venues right now. Just recently we, Chris Dehring and myself had a meeting, the second overlay meeting, in London with the architects of all eight venues, it worked out very favourably, we got a much more detailed look at the proposals for all the stadiums.
"We essentially created an architects all-star team, everybody presented us with what their countries are doing, everybody got to see what each country was doing, we helped everybody to get a standard and uniformed plan and I now have the latest and greatest concepts of what each country is doing," said Lockerbie on Friday morning.
WHERE THINGS ARE
According to Lockerbie, he is working with each country on a daily basis and on Thursday in St. Kitts, one of the items to be discussed at the board meeting is where things are - what will definitely be happening in each country, how it fits in with what the board expects and if they can proceed.
"Now this is not a award or a punishment. It simply says: We awarded you matches but that does not mean we were fully aware or approve of everything in your bid.
"Now we have had seven or eight weeks to go through everything in your bids, we have met with your architects, we have made sure your architects fully understand what the mandate of the ICC is and that we are all in agreement.
"If we are in agreement, then you get a notice to proceed to start construction, to start spending money on your stadiums. If you do not get a notice to proceed, it is not a punishment: it simply means perhaps we are not on the same page yet as far as designing what we need to do with your stadiums."
In that respect, some countries, according to Lockerbie, are miles ahead, some countries are taking longer to try and get a unified stance on what to do.
Jamaica, it appears, is one of the countries that are miles ahead.
PROGRESS
"I am really pleased with Jamaica's progress. It might look like they are behind some others, but there is a good reason for that. They got the Yellow Package, they wanted the Black Package, so they had to stop and rethink. They had to really start from scratch all over again, for while there are many, many similarities between the Yellow Package and the Black Package, there are some differences and Jamaica had to make some decisions about what to do.
"I have met with Jamaica's local organising committee (LOC) and I feel comfortable with the direction in which they are heading. I am really impressed. I am very pleased with what they are doing."
The Yellow Package consists of the Opening Ceremony, six preliminary round matches, the West Indies as the base team, and one semi-final, and although Jamaica was awarded one venue, following the need to have a venue for warm-up matches, the inconvenience to have the Opening Ceremony at Sabina Park on the night preceding the opening match at Sabina Park, the cost of preparing the National Stadium for the Opening Ceremony and the cost of finding a third venue for the warm-up matches, the ICC, through CWC 2007, has given the go ahead to have the Opening Ceremony and warm-up matches at the Greenfield site in Trelawny.
Without going into details, Lockerbie said the plans for Sabina Park, for the World Cup and after the World Cup, will make it, like the other venues in the Caribbean, a truly modern and magnificent cricket stadium, and that the plans for the Greenfield site will make it a wonderful addition to the country's sports facilities.
FUTURE RENOVATIONS
According to members of Jamaica's organising committee, Sabina Park will be renovated to accommodate 20,000 spectators and will be state of the art during and after the World Cup, and with 10,000 permanent seats and 15,000 temporary seats, the Greenfield site will be built to accommodate 25,000 spectators for the Opening Ceremony and 10,000 after the World Cup.
"No problem at all," said Lockerbie. "I don't think Jamaicans should worry about anything. I am really excited about what is happening in Jamaica. I think Jamaicans will be proud of both venues during the World Cup, and when it is all over, Jamaica will have a wonderful, first-class cricket stadium and a venue that can be turned into a lovely multi-purpose stadium."
