A week ago global track and field icon Marion Jones told 7NEWS (See Marion Jones Returns to Belize) that she was waiting on government to come through with its part of the $5 million to renovate the Marion Jones Sports Complex. The Complex was renamed in honor of the Belizean bred track star when she made her celebrated trip to Belize in 2002. Almost 5 years later, the Complex has deteriorated to the point of nearly being a public hazard. Still, Marion told us she has faith in the project and said as much when she spoke with Prime Minister Said Musa and Sports Minister Cordel Hyde last Thursday. So what's government's response? Today, Hyde told us that the initial plans were too ambitious but said a new agreement has been worked out.
Hon. Cordel Hyde, Minister of Sports
"Well I think initially about five years ago when Marion first came to Belize, we had this Rolls Royce project in mind. We wanted to do a project that would have cost close to five million dollars. I think both sides were very ambitious, we have revised that. In fact we met with Marion and the Prime Minister last Thursday. She made a courtesy call on the Prime Minister and we have agreed that we will scale it back a bit to ensure that we get a synthetic track. The project will probably cost a little less than half of what we initially envisioned. I think along the way both sides ran into problems."
Keith Swift,
Correct me if I am wrong but since Marion Jones came to Belize, government got additional money from the Taiwanese government to build a facility at the Marion Jones Complex. What happened to that money?
Hon. Cordel Hyde,
"Well they've lent us the money, we haven't received the money yet. In fact couple months ago you will recall that a contract was with a local architectural firm to come up with the designs for that project and that work is well underway. I expect the design to be complete by early February, we're hoping to go to tender probably a month after that and hopefully construction can start very early in the first quarter of the new year."
Hyde says construction should begin early next year.
