BOTH THE Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People's National Party (PNP) are seeking alternative venues to the National Arena to stage their national conferences this year.
PNP acting general secretary, Harry Douglas, confirmed yesterday that the party intended to hold its conference between September 20 and 22. However, there is a problem with the venue for the public session on September 22 as the National Arena will not be available.
Institue of Sport's (INSPORT) facility and equipment manager, Derrick Dennicer, said yesterday that the Arena has been closed to facilitate refurbishing work to be undertaken by Venezuelan firm, Techno Consultant Limited, to prepare it to host the World Netball Championships next July.
"The Arena is already closed and the contractors have taken over the venue," he confirmed. The only area of the Arena still occupied is INSPORT'S administrative offices on the second floor. He said that the Arena should have been closed earlier this year, but was kept open to facilitate the recent World Junior Championships.
He could not say anything about the cost or the period of time of the refurbishing, however, as this is being done by the Urban Develop-ment Corporation (UDC). Ted Duncan, the UDC's man in charge of the project, was not available to comment yesterday.
But the closure of the venue comes at a bad time for both major political parties as they prepare for their final conferences before the next General Election.
The JLP was scheduled to have its conference in November but, with the election now likely before November, is opting for an earlier date at a venue to be identified. JLP deputy leader, Olivia Grange, said yesterday that the party intended to have a conference this year, but would have to find a venue.
PNP election campaign director, Dr. Paul Robertson, suggested at a party conference on the weekend that the party may opt for the much larger National Stadium.
Mr. Douglas admitted yesterday that the party was looking at the stadium as an option for its public session, but that a final decision is yet to be made. "We are definitely going to have a conference and the public session is going to be in an area as large as possible. We want to make it one to remember," Mr. Douglas said.
Speculation is that Prime Minister P.J. Patterson will announce the date for the election prior to the conference, but will use it as a "fine-tuning" event days before the election date.
Miss Grange said that the JLP would also have to look at the possibility of a conference at the National Stadium, too, if it had no other choice.
