Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

The unfinished Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay will be the temporary home for the Second City's two Wray and Nephew National Premier League (NPL) clubs - Wadadah FC and Seba United - when Jarrett Park is closed on December 31 to facilitate preparation for warm-up games in the build-up to the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Confirming the availability of the new sports complex, which is being constructed by the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Calvin Brown, the project manager in the western Office of the Prime Minister, said the facility will be ready for use no later than January 15 - two weeks after the closure of Jarrett Park.

"That is the arrangement that we will be working with when Jarrett Park is closed," said Brown yesterday evening. "There are some additional details that we have to work out with the teams but we don't envisage any problems to derail the plan that is in place."

In a meeting with stakeholders in the St. James sporting fraternity in Montego Bay on Tuesday, UDC official Trevor Heaven unveiled the plan to use the Catherine Hall facility. He also outlined that seats have been sourced in the United States and will be temporarily placed at the facility, pending the erection of a permanent seat-plan for the facility.

Chain-link fence

In addition to the temporary seating, a temporary perimeter chain-link fence will also be erected at the facility to help the teams generate revenue through gate collection. However, the teams might be forced to make arrangements for their own bathroom and changing room facilities.

Reacting to the new arrangements, some sporting officials questioned the wisdom of spending what could amount to as much as $7 million to put up temporary facilities at Catherine Hall when the same amount of money could be used for a permanent arrangement at the nearby UDC playing field, which the teams had expressed an interest in using once seating was put in place.

"I am prepared to work with whatever arrangement is in place," said St. James FA president and top Seba United official Orville Powell. "We understand the situation and we will do whatever we can to ensure that the current arrangement works."

As a condition of giving up Jarrett Park to host the warm-up matches for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, chairman of the Jarrett Park Management Committee (JPMG), Adrian Grant, had sought and got an assurance from the OPM that alternative arrangements would have be made to facilitate the NPL teams.