Jones in discussion with Minister Henry over Community Development Project funding
Following ongoing discussions with Minister within the Ministry of Education Nicolette Henry, National Sports Commission (NSC) Director Christopher Jones said the possibility exists that the policy of the Community Development Project funding could be altered.
Speaking at his Homestretch Avenue office, Jones said “I am still in discussion with Minister Nicolette Henry because the Community Development Fund essentially comes under the remit of the minister. Of course it speaks to the tune of $300 million dollars.
“I am still proposing to her and likely we will see a change in that policy which initially spoke to awarding communities up to a million dollars for them to enhance their grounds.
But essentially, the proof of the pudding is that it makes absolutely no sense because after about six months the grounds are back to the state that it were.
“My proposal to her is that we spend minimum of 10 million dollars and we do this via the Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC) system,” he said pointing out that there were 65 NDC’s in six municipalities.
“You can essentially rule this out in a four-year, four-phase plan that would see the completion of all of the NDC’s and all of the municipalities latest 2019.
“What I did when I came into office I met with some of the associations seeking their guidance because essentially, if you are going to setup a multipurpose space for various disciplines, the association must have an input.
“Based on their feedback in terms of regulation size for a football field, basketball court and so forth, the costing was accumulated via that means. Ten million dollars is about the minimum we can spend if we want to achieve a truly multipurpose space which caters for several disciplines and of course, priority is lights at every one of the locations,” Jones added.
Asked if there could be an increase in this year’s budget for the programme, Jones said, “That’s why I mentioned about it rolling out in phases, because my first proposal in 2016 for example is for 22 NDC’s which will speak to 220 million and of course you still have to cater for the communities that do not reside within a municipality or NDC for example the Amerindian communities and of course you still want to cater for school grounds.
“So with 220 million being utilized for the NDC spaces, you still have 80 million in which you could allocate to the Amerindian communities as well as schools to enhance their ground and of course, once you are rehabilitating the school grounds, it is keeping with Government’s policy of reintroducing sports in the school curriculum”.
Quizzed on how communities can gain access to the programme, he declared “In whatever space they live there is a community ground, it must have a community committee that is responsible for the management of the ground.
They will have to do a needs assessment and of course they have to submit a detailed proposal which includes the budget, the cost and exactly what is needed to be done.
“That proposal must be submitted to the Permanent Secretary Alfred King at the Ministry on Main Street and what I advise persons to do is also carbon copy one to me so I would be able to follow.
“I am currently
in receipt about 10 that came in during the December period because those persons would have missed the deadline of last year so they took advantage to ensure they send it early. Outside of those, I am not sure if any was sent directly to the Permanent Secretary.”
Asked if the programme will target new and/ or existing spaces, Jones said “In every NDC they are several villages, essentially for us to identify an ideal space which is the largest space within the NDC, we will need to consult with the villages. So right there and then you get cooperation from the villages.
“After that process and we would have identified the largest space within that NDC, then of course you have to setup the management committee to manage the affairs. We are advocating that the management committee be comprised of people of all of the villages that comprise that NDC and of course a representative from that NDC who will have responsibility in terms of making provision that ensure that the maintenance of the facility is upkept.”