Basseterre, St. Kitts, August 02, 2023 (SKNIS): The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is spending millions to upgrade sporting facilities across the island including the Kim Collins Athletic Stadium, the Conaree Playing Field, the Atiba Harris Sporting Complex. Protecting that investment will be equally important and is something that the Ministry of Sports is keenly aware of.
At a national town hall on Tuesday, August 01, 2023, Minister of Sports, the Honourable Samal Duggins said that maintenance and care for the facilities is an ongoing issue and new strategies will be rolled out to address this.
“One of the other things that we will be doing is assigning staff members beyond the 8 to 4 working hours who can assist with the care of these facilities going down into the evening. We are piloting that at the moment and that should bring some success,” said Minister Duggins.
“There are a number of clubs that use them (the playing facilities) predominantly and we are looking to see how we can instruct them to take more care,” he added, noting that others in the respective community must help to care for the sporting grounds and facilities.
Other strategies including terms of use policy document, greater community ownership, and more are detailed in the National Sports Policy 2022-2026. One of the initiatives calls for the creation of an online booking system that will help to structure the use of sports facilities and record breaches of property or other damages.