MINISTER of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange on Tuesday announced Government’s plan to redevelop the 62-year-old National Stadium into a world-class facility under a recently signed cooperation agreement with the Government of the United Kingdom.

“We are deliberately establishing a world-class stadium for our world-class athletes and entertainers, and we’re targeting to break ground no later than August 2025,” said the minister while making her contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives.

At the same time, she called on the Opposition People’s National Party to avoid politicising sports as she again addressed that side’s heavy critique of the stadium in recent times.

“I want to use the opportunity to say to my shadow on the opposite side, let’s not politicise sports. You don’t have to go and stand up in the middle of a stadium or a facility and go on social media to blame and point finger. Sports and culture… unite; it does not divide. So the newcomers who are trying that, let it go,” Grange said.

Over the last few months, shadow spokesman on labour and sports Wavell Hinds has been raising concerns regarding the inadequate lighting at the National Stadium.

Among the matters that have come to the fore was Jamaica’s FIFA World Cup qualifying match against the Dominican Republic on June 6 having to start three hours earlier because of faulty lighting. Concacaf had inspected the National Stadium a week prior to the game and found that the lighting did not meet its minimum requirement.

Independence Park, operators of the stadium, had installed equipment during the weekend before the match valued at $15 million to improve the brightness of the lights, but the body told the Jamaica Observer at that time that Concacaf had made its decision before the upgrade, which, it said, now brings the stadium up to par.

Prior to this, Jamaica Premier League club Cavalier had been fined US$10,000, or about $1.5 million, by Concacaf for hosting a Caribbean Cup match in poor lighting conditions at the National Stadium. That was when the matter was first brought to public attention.

There were also complaints from people, including Hinds, about the lighting during the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships in March.

But Grange defended the quality of lighting, dismissing Hinds’ comments as “very divisive, very underappreciative”. “What he failed to point out was that there was a bank of lights, not on the tower
— because those lights were obsolete
— but we compensated for that by providing other lights,” Grange was reported by the Observer in its April 1 publication.

On Tuesday, Grange said she is determined to present to the nation a redeveloped National Stadium, a world-class facility that meets the regulatory requirements of international sports federations.

The stadium, she said, has served the country well, but its “features are now obsolete, unable to be upgraded, and will pose a challenge to normal operations as the recent challenge with lighting demonstrated”.

According to the minister, under the framework for cooperation signed by the Ministry of Finance and Public Service and UK Export Finance, the priority project to be addressed is the redevelopment of the National Stadium.

“Through this framework, a team of architects and project managers from the UK held discussions with my team at the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport and sent us a proposal for the renovation and redevelopment of facilities at Independence Park, particularly the National Stadium,” Grange told the House.

She said the document not only proposes to address the shortcomings of the existing stadium but also to identify
— through qualitative and quantitative assessment
— the full potential of the facility through its enhancement as a major tournament venue, training centre and visitor attraction to promote Jamaica and Jamaican sporting talent.

“We considered the proposal; we looked at it carefully and this proposal has the development of the sports museum in its scope, and we accepted it. We have communicated our decision to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service which will now finalise the funding agreement and release funds in short order to begin phase one of the development which is the stadium assessment and feasibility study,” she said.

Grange said that the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has also been requested to provide special funding in the amount of $75 million for urgent remedial work at the stadium to address the lighting.

“This remedial work must be completed by September of this year for the stadium to meet the FIFA requirements for international matches that are scheduled to be played at ‘the office’ in the second and third week of September,” she said.

Turning to the Trelawny stadium, the sport minister said there are discussions about a US$550-million development at the facility and that the venture is to be driven by private equity and not public funding.

“The investors propose to transform Trelawny into a high-performance sports complex that can accommodate 21 sports disciplines, host international games, awards ceremonies and serve as training grounds. This sports tourism development also proposes the construction of high-rise condominiums and a hotel. The discussions about this exciting development are going well and I look forward to making the announcements as we sign off the arrangement,” she said.