Taiwanese President, Chen Shui-bian departed Belize this morning, just about 24 hours after he began his official state visit. Before heading out on his chartered plane, the President along with Prime Minister Hon. Said Musa broke ground for a new indoor sports center which the Taiwanese will sponsor, reportedly for $5 million.
Sound great, but when it comes to sport stadiums, the Belizean public has a right to be wary after the public oven that is the city center and the still not built running track at the Marion Jones stadium. So we tried to find out, i_s this the real deal, or is it just more hype?
Keith Swift Reporting,
Four years ago the Government of Belize and Marion Jones undertook a project to develop the National Stadium into the Marion Jones sporting complex however that never materialized and now there is a new plan. This is what the Belize Sports Center will look like and Sports Minister Francis Fonseca says it will be a modern sporting facility.
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Sports
“The objective is really to allow us to have a sports center. That has been one of the big obstacles whenever we want to have international meets or regional meets. They tell us well you don’t have any facilities that can host these meets. Well now we believe that this center will provide us with that opportunity which will allow us to take our athletes to another level by competing on a regular basis with regional and international athletes. At the core of it the sports center will be about basketball providing a training facility with perhaps some 6 courts for basketball training and also a center court which will be the center of an auditorium that will house maybe about 4,000 people. But also the facility will provide for volleyball training and volleyball courts and also track and field. We are hopeful that we can develop a good…upgrade the Marion Jones complex and the tracks, the cycling and running tracks. And also within the sports center we hope to provide facilities such as locker rooms, a full gym for athletes and you know other facilities that are certainly lacking in Belize for sports.”
However there is a concern that like the city center and of course the ill-fated Marion Jones synthetic track, today’s groundbreaking was just an empty promise.
Jules Vasquez,
Francis one of the main concerns people have is that they don’t want another City Center which people feel, the common perception, was the product of graft and not of conscientious public thinking or public construction. And in fact the Marion Jones Sporting Complex that we have here is also another sort of failed or abandoned project. How do we know that this project won’t end up like those?
Hon. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Sports
Yeah I certainly think you’re absolutely right in saying we have to do everything we can to make sure that this project is a success not only in the eyes of the government of Belize but much more importantly in the eyes of the Belizean people. Because of our past experiences, I completely accept that. So I think the only way we can do that Jules is by fully involving the Belizean people at every step of the way, making them be a part of the development of the project, having our local architects and our local engineers in involved in the design of the project and then having our local contractors of course involved in the construction of the project. But making sure that every step of the way we inform the Belizean people what we are doing. The cost of the project of course is very important. Also I think certainly the government of Taiwan is not contributing to this project wanting it not to exceed. They certainly will want to ensure that every step of the way that it is a successful project.”
And while the Taiwanese have never been really interested in transparency in the way their donated funds are used, we doubt the Prime Minister will want to disappoint his close friend, President Chen.
Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister
“President Chen we are honored by the visit you have been paying to our country Belize. President Chen has been a good friend to Belize. Ever since he came to office in 2000 he has worked very closely with us and I have no hesitation in reciprocating in encouraging my good friend President Chen. It is through the generous assistance of Taiwan that this sports center, this indoor sports center, will soon become a reality.”
And deliverance of that promise was probably on the minds of the high school and primary school sports champions who greeted the President during his visit to the Marion Jones Sporting complex. Later they watched this made for TV moment when the self-professed “good friends” both scored goals on the street. We suspect these athletes are interested in a different goal -the completion of this project.
Construction on the Sports Center should begin early next year but no completion date has been announced.