GFF National Training Centre on course for 2020 completion

By Avenash Ramzan

All things being equal, the Guyana Football Federation’s National Training Centre at Providence would be completed in 2020.

That’s according to president of the Federation, Wayne Forde, who shared an update on the progress of works at the multi-million dollar facility.

When completed, this would be the nation’s first state-of-the-art football facility, and will be the focal point for football activities at all levels of the game.

It will, once properly managed and utilised, play a pivotal role in elevating the standard of Guyana’s football as it will cater for male and female development.

The venue will be equipped with female amenities to encourage greater participation and will house the headquarters of the Guyana Football Federation.

Barring any obstacles or unforeseen delays, the keys would be handed over in 2020.

“I feel very confident we can complete phase two, but to be able to hand over the key and be able to say we’re finished it is very likely we’re going to find ourselves into 2020, because we’re really trying to build a top-class facility,” Forde said.

“Our goal is to make it functional (before 2020) so we can get football played there, so we have to put in the lights, the stands, the dorms, the washrooms. We’re going to be revealing, hopefully in about six weeks time, the final design because we did a lot of changes to that.”

Other aspects of the facility will include dormitories, kitchen services, a gym and pool. Once the turf is completed, a schedule would be drafted to ensure maximum participation, in helping to get the artificial material to sit properly.

“Part of the settling in of the turf requires extensive football. Actually, the contractor would like us to play 24 hours a day. Of course, we were busy during the year end with football so we’re now going to write the members, inviting them to play and of course we will come up with initiatives ourselves. The league teams would be training there; we need to build some kind of schedule, but we want to have as much activity on the pitch as possible,” the GFF head explained.

“We have an inspection planned for February, and then I think the FIFA certification will take place in March.”

Forde further explained what has to be in place to ensure that FIFA certification.

“We have to do some work to accommodate the dugout on the eastern side of the field. The actual work that we would be doing at the facility for 2019 will be the lighting, we’re looking at seating and dorms and we’ll go from there. We’re going to be investing a fair amount in that facility over the next couple of months,” Forde indicated.

VIDEO LINK OF FACILITY: https://www.facebook.com/newsroomgy/videos/1223438401140678/