Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

With just three days to go before the promised delivery date, it now seems certain that the unfinished Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay, will not be available for use by Wadadah FC and Seba United on the date promised by the Office of The Prime Minister (OPM).

At a meeting in mid-December involving officials of the OPM and the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), football stakeholders in St. James were told that temporary infrastructure would be put in place to facilitate the two NPL teams by January 15.

'it will be ready'

"I am sure that it will not be ready as was promised," said St. James Football Association (StJFA) president Orville Powell. "I went over there today (Tuesday) and based on my discussions with the workers, I don't see the stands being in place before next Wednesday."

When the Gleaner visited the stadium on Tuesday, marl was being spread in the area designated for the stands. However, there were no signs of the perimeter fencing nor the temporary changing room facilities, which are integral components of the promised temporary J$7 million project.

"I am very upset with the situation but I cannot allow it to consume all my time because I have a parish to run and the affairs of my club (Seba United) to deal with," said Powell. "If the facility is not ready, regardless of how inconvenient it might be, we will just have to find somewhere to play ... As the saying goes, the show must go on."

Besides not meeting its obligation to deliver the unfinished stadium on time, Powell is also unhappy with the OPM/UDC for what appears to be an about-face in a promise that the temporary seating would stay in the parish after they are removed from the Catherine Hall Stadium to facilitate the erecting of permanent seats there.

confirmation

"We believe we had an assurance that the seats would remain in the parish so we were already making plans to reinstall them at the UDC playing field," said Powell. "However, when we wrote to the OPM/UDC asking for a confirmation in writing, we were told that it would not be possible for us to get the seats."

While efforts to get a comment from the OPM/UDC proved futile, Powell furnished The Gleaner with copies of correspondence between the StJFA and the OPM/UDC in which it was stated that the seats, which were acquired in the United States, would not be left in the western city after they are removed from Catherine Hall.