ROSE HALL, St James —Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, is informing that talks are far advanced with an overseas-based private sector entity that is willing to partner with the Government in the proposed multimillion-dollar development of the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium.

“We are now doing the due diligence of that company to ensure that everything is okay, and then we will continue our discussions with them,” Grange told the Jamaica Observer West on Friday on the final day of 39th regular meeting of the Caribbean Heads of Government Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St James.

“The concept is to build a cricket academy and a running track, and we are in discussions with Usain Bolt; and if there is a running track and the facility is of an international standard, then we will continue our discussions with Bolt in naming the facility in tribute to him because of his outstanding performance,” said Grange.

According to Grange, the project has already been approved by Government, which has provided funding to undertake “some preliminary work” at the facility.

“Government has signed off on it and preliminary work is underway to take the project to the next stage,” said the minister.

She added that the project also involves the creation of an indoor arena which will be able to host international basketball events.

“We have some low-hanging fruits in terms of basketball. We have the college basketball tournament where last year we had six colleges out of the United States, this year we will have more participating, and currently they use the Montego Bay Convention Centre, but once we put in the indoor facility, then that would be one of the activities that would take place there,” Grange explained.

Grange said she is hopeful that by the end of this year “everything will be in place so that an announcement can be made as to when construction for the project will begin.”

The Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, located near Falmouth, was constructed in 2007 under an agreement between Jamaica and the People’s Republic of China. The Chinese provided US$30 million for the project. The facility was used for the hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup opening ceremony in 2007, as well as some warm-up games.

Since then, however, the stadium, which has a capacity of 25,000, has been grossly underutilised.