Prime Minister P.J. Patterson shows some muscle at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Cricket World Cup 2007 stadium in Florence Hall, Trelawny, on November 11. - PHOTO BY ADRIAN FRATER
GEORGETOWN (Stabroek News):
THE CONSTRUCTION of Guyana's Cricket World Cup 2007 stadium is five per cent behind schedule, but site engineer Walter Willis is optimistic that it would be completed by the scheduled date.
Speaking to members of the media recently at the site, Willis informed reporters that the construction of the spectators' stand is seven weeks behind schedule, while works on certain other areas are ahead of schedule.
In giving a progress report on the works done to date, Willis said "what is in the minds of most Guyanese, is whether we are going to be finished or not. At this point in time, we are 25 per cent progress complete and the planned progress should have been 30 per cent."
Willis said the reason for being five per cent behind schedule is a delay in the piling, which is still going on and which he assured the media will be completed by month-end.
WORK SUSPENDED
He said pile driving is still going on at the north-western and south-eastern stands "and that has caused the delay, which in time has been analysed by the ICC, and we are seven weeks behind on the spectators' stands only. We are ahead on the media centre at the northern end of the ground, we are ahead on the venue operations centre (VOC) which is to the west, we are ahead on the grounds-keepers building which is to the east and the southern pavilion."
Asked about the preparation of the mound, Willis said work was suspended since they are ahead of schedule on that.
"The foundation work for the grass mound is complete, and we are concentrating on getting out of the ground on these three stands right now."
According to Willis, the field and pitch preparation has also been delayed by two weeks. The delay, he said, was caused by the construction activities and the construction of the concrete drain, which is required before the under drainage system is put in place.
"We had to delay that (pitch) until most of the work is finished on the stands," he said.
