Cabinet’s decision to terminate the sports complex project at the Marion Jones Stadium has been unpopular, and now the executive may be re-thinking that decision. As we’ve reported, the project got the axe because it was working out to be too expensive; projected costs were $25 million and government only had $12 million in aid funds. It couldn’t find the other 13, so the decision was taken to cancel the project and re-assign the money.
But after discussion with the consultants at Thurton and Associates, there is a possibility that the project – or a slightly stripped down version will be re-animated. The UDP’s Guardian Newspaper reports that the Prime Minister is in discussions to scale down the facility to a core project. That means that some elements like the parking lot may have to be trimmed off, but the facility would remain essentially the same. Also aiding this effort is that with the global financial turmoil, construction costs, mostly steel has also gone down.
So while all those considerations may make t6he project cheaper and more feasible, the Prime Minister did tell us that he will not agree to building what he called a “hot box” like the City Center or any substandard facility. The PM told us that the government would look favourably on something in the vicinity of a $15 million project.
