Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

THE TRELAWNY Multi-Purpose Stadium may have been lavishly displayed on March 11 when it hosted the opening ceremony for the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC), but it appears not to have caught the interest of overseas sporting teams - at least, not yet.

Major Desmon Brown, head of Independence Park Limited, the company that manages the facility, says to date, there has not been a single request to his office from overseas teams to use the facilities, as was expected by the previous government in building the facility.

"Since we have been there, we have not had any interest shown," Brown tells The Sunday Gleaner. Independence Park Limited took over the management of the stadium in September after the Local Organising Committee, which managed the CWC locally, ceased operations.

The Trelawny stadium, which was built with financial aid from the Chinese government at a cost of US$30 million, is located on 40 acres of land. The facility was conceptualised to be a multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex.

However, according to Karl Samuda, the Minister of Industry and commerce, the vision for use of the stadium facility is not attainable now. He told the House of Representatives last week that "the facility cannot be used as a true multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex as was originally conceptualised (because) it will require additional land and the development of appropriate infra-structure to accommodate different sporting and entertainment events.

"While the idea of a multi-purpose sports and entertainment centre is a laudable one, the vision needs to be translated into a reality capable of being financially feasible," Samuda added.

Among the many uses con-ceptualised for the stadium is that it could facilitate training by foreign-based baseball teams, mass meetings, and entertainment events.

Dr. Patrick Harris, Member of Parliament for North Trelawny, the constituency in which the stadium is located, argues that while he would want to see the stadium utilised more, breaking into the attractive sports tourism market takes time.

Few activities

Since the opening ceremony of the CWC, the stadium has seen few activities while it racks up a monthly maintenance cost of $3 million dollars. It has hosted a Seventh-day Adventist convention as well as Cure Fest - an entertainment show. Maj. Brown says he will be meeting in the near future with entertainment interests in western Jamaica to discuss plans for the hosting of similar entertainment events there. Until then, the complex lies idly and the dream of using it in the sports tourism market remains distant.

"There are a lot of things that need to be done at greenfield [the stadium] if we are to attract overseas sports teams," Brown states. "People talk, and it seems they don't understand what needs to be done to get sports teams to come here."

This includes, he says, the provision of a proper gymnasium and medical facilities at the site.