Several facilities run by the Department of Sports are in line for renovation, which includes replacing the roofs of the grandstands at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex.
“They are a bit deteriorated at the moment and we want to replace those,” Director of Sports Kurt Hyde told the Cayman Compass.
The government recently spent around $400,000 on the installation of over 200 LED lights at three major pitches – a project that took nearly two years to complete.
Now with the proposal to replace the roofing at the national stadium, among other plans, Hyde says in due course everything will be completed.
“We need to employ structural engineers to make sure that we have our specifications correct because when we are opening a facility to the public, it has to be safe,” he said. “It has to withstand our current climate conditions, things like hurricanes.”
In addition to the installation of floodlights, the Annex also underwent a few changes – the bathrooms were retiled, showers were upgraded, and the sheet rock and drywall were replaced.
Hyde said similar changes will be made to the Truman Bodden Sports Complex as well as Ed Bush Stadium in West Bay.
“So that’s the plan…the changing rooms at these facilities as well need some upgrading and we have already started at the Annex,” he said, noting, however, that there is no concrete date for when work will begin.
Multi-use courts
He added that his department is in talks with the ministry of sports to have multi-functional courts in districts like North Side, which only has a single pitch in addition to the Edna Moyle Primary School field.
These new courts can be converted to accommodate either basketball, netball or volleyball games, according to Hyde.
When acknowledging that the government is considering building other new facilities, Hyde said it’s too early to provide details.
“I don’t want to speak to those quite yet because we are still in negotiations and, as you can imagine, this is a government department, so everything depends on budget. But we do have some new projects planned for West Bay [and] East End,” he said.
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