Sligoville Sports Complex – a gem yet to sparkle

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore –

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over –

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

– Harlem by Langston Hughes

Nestled in the bosom of Sligoville, St Catherine – a small rural farming community and Jamaica’s first free village – is a gem with great unrealised power and potential.

The Sligoville sports complex houses basketball, netball, cricket and football fields, outfitted with seating, lighting, drainage, parking and office facilities. It also houses a community centre, but has become one of the island’s white elephants – a description that offends community members and political representatives.

Instead, they prefer to call it “the seldom, and underused facility”.

Built on Crown lands almost two decades ago, at a cost of nearly $250 million, the facility can seat 600 people at the basketball and netball courts; 1,200 at the cricket oval; and 1,500 at the football field, which has a six-lane, 400-metre track encircling it.

“Oh my God, man. You know how many people in the community could be benefiting from it financially if it was properly used? Plus, with Airbnb now a big business, its regular usage could be a source of revenue for community members with a room or two that they could rent. Is like nobody saw the vision for it, at the time, and because it has become so dilapidated now, they worse can’t see,” Bartley Bailey, a resident of the community, told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

Bailey is a volunteer handyman at events, but from time to time may get a stipend, depending on the nature of the event being staged.

His curiosity brought him to make enquiries when he saw The Sunday Gleaner team checking out the seemingly forgotten gem. He numbers among those offended by the white elephant tag.

“The place can be used for so many things. The last event since year was a family outing, and the schools around the area should have been using it on a regular basis, people training for various sports, and bring more life to the place,” he said.

He is not the only one who has expressed concerns about the underuse of the Sligoville complex, which was built with a grant from the People’s Republic of China.

In fact, such concerns emerged within a year after it was completed, as in 2008, the Chinese company which built the facility, said it was saddened that it was not being used. A representative of the company said it had paid the construction team to stay in Jamaica for the one-year warranty on the project.

DISMAL STATE

Once secured by chain-link perimeter fencing, except for a small area near the post office, all the fencing is now gone. The fencing around the courts has rotted. On one side of the courts, only three of the 26 metal poles which once held the fence remain. Visible cracks in the surface of the courts also tell the tale of neglect.

The weather-beaten plastic seats in the football and cricket stands have crystallised and many have been removed. Persons can only now sit on the concrete painted in black and popped with red paint. Sitting on the wooden seats at the courts could be a risky endeavour as the decaying planks collapse under the slightest weight.

The four floodlights for the courts are all missing bulbs and the basketball hoops have been dislodged from the poles and even the metal is breaking down. A bamboo stalk is used as reinforcement for the hoop at one end of the courts.

All metal security rails around the courts have also decayed and are gone, but those around the football field are faring better.

Knee-high grass covers more than 80 per cent of the entire complex, although some sections were recently mowed.

A lock was observed on the front gate and access to the property was gained by the driveway from the police station, which is separated by a chain-link fence from the complex. A community centre, which overlooks the stadium and which was built as part of the project, is being used by a Kingston-based entity for sports training.

REVIVING A DREAM DEFERRED

Sligoville residents who spoke with The Sunday Gleaner expressed the belief that the complex could achieve its full potential if it had facilities for accommodation. It could be advertised for sports and church camping, they said, as well as short- and medium-term training for different sporting disciplines.

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs K.D. Knight was instrumental in securing funding for the complex. Despite harsh criticisms at the time, Knight, the then St Catherine East Central member of parliament, was instrumental in deciding its placement.

Knight left representational politics shortly after the completion of the stadium and Natalie Neita-Garvey, who succeeded him as member of parliament, is well aware of the condition of the facility and its potential.

Last week, Neita-Garvey said that she has been pleading with everyone – state and private entities alike – for help to restore the facility and take it beyond its current offering.

“There has been discussion from the Government with me about the facility. My discussion has also been with a group, who currently has a programme, and I’m also in dialogue with investors and former MP K.D. Knight and we are about to reach an agreement,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

She described the complex as a massive upgrade from the playing field that was there before its construction.

“I have applied to every minister over how many years for assistance. I have also spoken to United Way, Engineers Across Borders, my latest begging efforts [resulted in a team visiting] and they looked at it a few months ago, so I am waiting to hear from them. They wanted a special projects [team] and a team of engineers to come,” she added.

Neita-Garvey said the plan for the larger project hit a snag when the Chinese, who wanted to renovate the nearby great house, became embroiled in a long argument with the Jamaica National Heritage Trust about it being a two-storey building.

“The Chinese engineers said the current structure cannot support a two-storey facility and they argued back and forth until they eventually left it,” she said.

Neita-Garvey said that her appeals to the Ministry of Tourism and its minister have not borne fruit so she is also trying to find investors for its redevelopment.

Those efforts have taken her to the United Kingdom in search of the 12th Marquess of Sligo, Sebastian Ulick Browne. Sligoville was renamed in honour of the second Marquess of Sligo, Howe Peter Browne, the governor sent from England to Jamaica from 1834 until 1836 to supervise the emancipation process for the newly freed slaves and the transition from the apprenticeship system to full freedom.

While there is no security cost associated with the complex currently, Neita-Garvey, who is herself a former sports minister, said renovation will come with a hefty price tag.

“We have been engaged in seeking assistance. In addition to what it is, it is also a fabulous wedding location; it just needs money. We removed all the plastic seats and repainted the concrete. Because of where it is, it attracts fungus, so we have to use special materials. Some light fixtures were there and they rusted quickly, so it’s a lot,” she explained, adding that frequent heavy rainfall in the area may have also caused some of the decay.

With no intention of giving up on the project, she said its rehabilitation will bring opportunities for thriving businesses in the rural community and its environs.

MAKING THE MOST OF A BAD DECISION

When plans were first announced for the Sligoville complex in 2005, then Spanish Town Mayor Dr Raymoth Notice was among critics describing the venture as “a waste of cash channelled in the wrong direction”.

Last week, Notice bemoaned its underuse and decay.

“I was the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) candidate against K.D. [of the People’s National Party] and I was very critical of the project at the time. I still believe the complex would have been better utilised were it located elsewhere. The current situation is unfortunate. But since it’s there and given as a gift to the community, the people must protect it,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

“There must be a coming together of community-based organisations, the political representatives, Government, and other interested parties to work on a way forward. Many potential sports stars could be sitting in the community waiting for a facility like that to use for training,” Notice stated.

Notice called on sports minister Olivia Grange and ministry officials to work on a plan for its upgrading, maintenance, and use, despite which administration was instrumental in its construction.

Since Grange became sports minister, no announcement regarding the future of the Sligoville complex has been made.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com