Heartiest congratulations to the Local Organising Committee of Cricket World Cup 2007 are in order for the staging of a well-coordinated opening ceremony and warm-up matches. These really showcased Jamaica in a positive light, despite the unfortunate killing of the Pakistani coach, Bob Woolmer.

However, we now have to face the harsh reality of how to capitalise on the over $2 billion spent to prepare the country.

Frankly, there was no need to incur an additional cost of US$32 million to build the stadium, which represents a luxury that the country cannot afford at this time. Yes we love cricket, which is an integral part of our culture, but there are times when government has to take hard decisions in the interest of the country and we feel this option should have been exercised based on an economic assessment of the benefits to be derived.

It is still mind-boggling as to why so much money was invested in a stadium which didn’t host at least two of the preliminary round matches. If our intention was to showcase this new venue to the rest of the world, and capitalise on a new multi-sports facility in Jamaica, then why did we not use the opportunity?

But there is no point in lamenting the past.

As a responsible nation, we MUST now look at how we can maximise the social and economic benefits of this facility in the interest of western Jamaica.

In changing the name of Greenfield to the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, did we change the design of the facility to reflect same? Or is it still a cricket stadium? We must remember that cricket is played mostly within the Commonwealth countries and that apart from the West Indies, no other Commonwealth country within the region from which we get our visitors is involved in this sport.

The stadium now needs to be redesigned and upgraded with the flexibility to accommodate other sporting events that are popular with our tourism source market. These sports include soccer, American football, baseball, and track and field.

The proposed management committee is needed urgently to tackle these modifications, in order for us to propel Jamaica forward as a sports tourism destination.

The Committee should have already been working with the Jamaica Tourist Board and other agencies on an aggressive marketing strategy for selling the facility to potential users, bearing in mind that events of this nature are usually booked two to three years

in advance.

Jamaica is known in the marketplace to put on the best shows and conventions, if we position ourselves now as the events destination in the Caribbean, bearing in mind our local festivals and shows, this could work to our advantage and would help to cushion our slower tourism periods.

Let us act now in deriving the true benefits of the stadium and saving this facility from becoming a costly white elephant to the Jamaican people.