Grenada Today - The National Newspaper of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique

Press Secretary to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell, Barbadian Barry Collymore has brushed aside reports about Mainland China not being satisfied with the conditions at Queen's Park for the rebuilding of the Cricket stadia.

The stadium collapsed in the face of high winds brought on by Hurricane Ivan last September. In speaking with Collymore Wednesday, he brushed aside reports circulating in the country that Mainland China is reluctant to rebuild the facility due to uncertainty over the soundness of the engineering structure.

He told GRENADA TODAY that Queen's Park is the ideal place for the stadia to be erected because of its size as well as its ability to park a number of vehicles at the same time.

He said that if improvements have to be made to the area then so be it but there is no other place in Grenada where the facility can be built. According to Collymore, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is happy with the demolition work now taking place at Queen's Park in order to get the facility ready for World Cup Cricket in 2007.

He spoke of the ICC being pleased to see the rubble being properly sorted and then separated so that they can be removed from the site. The Press Secretary disclosed that construction work on the sporting facility by the Chinese is scheduled to begin some time in August.

The contract for the multi-millon dollar stadium was awarded to a company from Trinidad and Tobago, headed by the current Minister of works, Colm Imbert. Sources told GRENADA TODAY that a team of engineers from China who conducted an analysis of the ground earlier in the year expressed concern with the present foundation.

The source said that the Chinese felt that there is too much water underneath the surface at Queen's Park that will call for additional piling to strengthen the area. According to the source the Chinese had requested that another area be chosen and that Beausejour, in the constituency of St. George's North-west of Prime Minister Mitchell was recommended as the alternative.

When contacted for an official comment, a Chinese diplomat on the island promised to get back to this newspaper with information on questions raised about the issue but did not do so up to the time of going to press. A recent report conducted by a group of British Engineers revealed that poor construction work was responsible for the collapse of the facility.

Grenada is down to host the Super Sixes matches of the 2007 World Cup which will be staged in the Caribbean. Presently a number of regional governments have begun demolishing their cricket arenas with the aim of upgrading them to accommodate thousands of supporters that are expected to come to the region for the cricket matches.