By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH the former government spent $600,000 to officially open the National Stadium, it took almost $1 million in public funds to carry out a series of corrective work in the lead up to Carifta, said Sports Minister Danny Johnson yesterday.

And by all indications, Mr Johnson compared last February’s grand opening of the $30 million facility to handing over a new building that was unfinished.

He further suggested that money from the public’s purse was wasted by the FNM as the same resources could have gone into making the stadium functional for future sporting events.

“(It took) almost a million dollars to bring it (the stadium) back around. That’s why I tell people I wish I had the $600,000 they spent on the opening.

“From the state that we received the stadium in...when you have an opening ceremony, for example, if you open up a building on Carmichael Road and say we are open, people figure you are opened for business. Not that you have constructed a building with nothing in it.

“We had to fix it. And so there were a few problems at the stadium. We had technical issues, maintenance issues, some conceptual issues, the follow-up and follow through wasn’t what we would have liked to see.

“We received it from the previous administration not in the best of circumstances but they said it was open so we had to make it functional, but that’s the past. I won’t complain. I get stuff done. I listened to the complaints and had to take action.”

Moving forward the government now not only has to figure out how it can recuperate from the massive Carifta expense, but work on its reputation after several international reporters complained of the treatment they received as guests while at the games.

The Minister said that sporting organisers would use the shortfalls as a springboard to do better.

“Of course during these things you have a variety of logistical things. And some things I think were weak.

“Some of the things we could easily improve on. It’s the first time that we actually literally used the national stadium. We showed that everything was working the lights and the sound system.

“I vehemently apologised to the press – local media and international media – as the press accreditation process I think got overwhelmed by the volume of what was happening at the time. Perhaps maybe it could have been in a separate place and perhaps sent to them in advance or received at the airport,” Mr Johnson said.