THE seating facility at the Leila Robinson courts should be ready by next week, thus finally completing the $23m refurbishing project started by the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) last June.

Work is currently wrapping up at the Independence Park facility under the watchful eyes of Major Desmon Brown, general manager of Independence Park Limited, and of Jimmy Vaughn, of the Gared Holdings — the Indiana-based sports equipment manufacturing company.

In November, the facility was ordered closed for safety reasons, and this disrupted the national senior netballers’ training programme in preparation for their Three Test Series to be played on January 10, 11 and 13.

“This is a project that started last June by the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) to do the courts and the seats, but there was some hold-up because we couldn’t get flights out,” Major Brown told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“So the man (Jimmy Vaughn) arrived yesterday (Sunday) and started working this morning (Monday) and by next week, we will have finished the seating and the courts,” Brown noted.

When the upgraded work is completed the facility will be able to seat just over 2,000 patrons. The facility now boasts a state-of-the-art ISO-approved red and blue surface, replacing the outdated rubberised surface.

The synthetic surface of the four courts are made of polyurethane tiles, which will help to improve the speed of local games and also to minimise the chances of players sustaining serious injuries.

“The only thing that will be left is the lighting, because we don’t have the funding in place yet to do the lights. These lights need to be upgraded to more energy efficient lights,” Brown added.

Last August, Minister with responsibility for Sports, Natalie Neita Headley, said the project formed part of the Government’s commitment to upgrading and improving sporting facilities island-wide in keeping with the National Sports Policy.

But in November, activities at the Leila Robinson Courts came to a halt following complaints from players, officials and fans that they were subject to electric shocks while touching the metal benches inside and also touching the gate at the main entrance. That problem has been rectified.