Warner Park on track for March completion date

The ultra-modern Warner Park cricket complex is well underway and on course for its completion date of March 31, next year.

Chief Executive Officer of the St. Kitts & Nevis Local Organising Committee (LOC) Horatio Versailles says the Host Venue, which will be home to Australia, South Africa, Scotland and Holland in the Group Stage First Round, is well advanced in many areas of construction.

Participants in the sixth Venue Summit for the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 and related meetings in St. Kitts toured the Basseterre ground last Wednesday and received an update on the progress of the scenic environs.

"In the pavilion, the roof is now being put on and the internal partitioning has been completed. Work on the media centre is also moving along smoothly with 90 per cent of the walls done and 80 per cent of internal partitioning complete," reported Versailles following the site visit.

"The ticketing office and the scoreboard are also under construction and the ground is already levelled."

Project manager Steve Brinkhurst of Carillion Construction (West Indies) Limited disclosed that "the pitch and field works are substantially complete and will be ready for grassing within the next few weeks".

He too is confident that construction at the cricket venue will be finished on time.

"Our completion date is March 31, 2006, and we are on schedule to meet that. However, after that, enormous additional work will have to be done to make it World Cup-ready. That's not part of our mandate.

"We are the construction managers hired by Terra Forma Developments Limited. They are the main developers who have the contract with the St. Kitts & Nevis Government to build the stadium."

Warner Park's legacy capacity is 8200 seated and unseated while the Cricket World Cup overlay will boost that number beyond 10000 with temporary seating.

Versailles added that the St. Kitts & Nevis cricketing community is "very excited" about the new ground and looks forward to it being among the most breath-taking cricketing arenas in the world.

"Our ground offers one of the most picturesque views in the Caribbean and in the world. It's being mentioned with grounds like Newlands in Cape Town, South Africa, which boasts the famous Table Mountain in the background.

"Here we have great views at either end. To the south we have the mountain ranges while, to the north, fans can see our sister island Nevis."