Kingston, 14 January 2021 – The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange says her Ministry will be moving to finalise the transformation and streamlining of the national sports entities during this calendar year.

The national sports entities are the Sports Development Foundation, Independence Park Limited, and the Institute of Sports.

Minister Grange gave the update during a meeting of the Board of Directors of Independence Park Limited on Wednesday (yesterday).

She said the transformation was aimed at creating a more efficient and a more effective government sport system.

Minister Grange urged the new Board to pick up the pace of project implementation. She said it was vital that the National Stadium and Trelawny Stadium infrastructure development project, which was affected by delays caused by covid-19 and weather conditions, gets back on track as soon as possible.

The proposal for the Redevelopment and Upgrading of the National Stadium and Trelawny Stadium is going through all the required stages of the Public Investment Management Secretariat, including submission of a comprehensive project proposal, architectural drawings and the development of a 5-year Business Plan.

The project is now at the final stage which includes submitting financial projections before it can be recommended to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service for funding.

The members of the Board of Independence Park Limited are:

Dr. the Honourable Michael Fennell (Chairman)
Mr. David Shirley (Deputy Chairman)
Mrs. Annmarie Heron
Assistant Commissioner Terrence Bent
Lieutenant Colonel Dameon Creary
Mr. Lenford Salmon
Mr. Carlton Dennis
Ms. Audrey Chin
Mr. Edward Barnes
Dr. Peter Charles
Ms. Shaneek Clacken
Ms. Stefani Dewar
Major Desmon Brown, General Manager (ex officio)

The members have been appointed to serve for two years. The new Board was constituted in keeping with the National Policy for Gender Equality to ensure that a minimum of 30 per cent of either sex makes up the composition of government boards.

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