PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Trinidad and Tobago’s Sports Minister Gary Hunt announced on Tuesday that the controversial Brian Lara Stadium at Tarouba will soon be opened.

Hunt did not specify a completion date but said announcement will be made “very soon” about the opening.

“Very soon you will be informed of good things about the Brian Lara Stadium,” Hunt said.

“The media would be notified very about a very exciting opening at the facility. It will be done with a cricket match,” he added.

Motorists travelling south along the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway on Monday would have seen bright lights reaching out way beyond the stadium, nestled among the sugar cane fields.

The contractors had switched on the lights after finishing the installation. They looked world class and appeared brighter than any of the lighting at other sports facilities in the country.

The Lara Stadium has been the source of huge controversy since the Government started building the complex long before the 2007 International Cricket Council World Cup in the Caribbean.

It was due to be completed in time for warm-up matches for that event but the plan never materialised.

Since then, a number of completion dates had been proclaimed but none had been met.

In 2005, the estimated cost of the stadium was set at TT$275 million (US$42.68m) and to date this figure is reported to have risen to around TT$700 million (US$108.64m) and counting.