Tyrone Reid, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

The University of Technology (UTech) could soon be getting access to government lands in Trelawny to establish its western campus, but the university will not get the largely idle multi-purpose stadium in the parish.

Late last year, the Government denied the Papine-based university's bid to transform the Trelawny-based stadium into its western campus.

But The Sunday Gleaner understands that in late March, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture formally offered the UTech "a section of the currently unused lands", adjacent to the stadium, which will be "presented as a gift to the university to facilitate the expansion of its academic programme in western Jamaica".

Sources close to the dialogue told The Sunday Gleaner that a detailed land survey of the property is now required.

The well-placed source also revealed that the university's land-surveying department agreed to use its resources to complete the needed survey as its contribution to the venture.

The surveying of the land is expected to get under way next week. After the survey is completed, the minister will be better able to decide which sections of the land will be made available to the UTech.

Further dialogue

When contacted, Professor Errol Morrison, president of the UTech, welcomed the move to give unused lands to the university but was obviously still interested in the stadium. "We would be happy to use it and work with the Government," he said.

Morrison told The Sunday Gleaner that the university appreciated any further dialogue that would assist in a greater understanding of its proposal to work with the Government regarding the management of the stadium.

He reiterated that the university's proposal would facilitate: "All of the Government's thrusts; accommodate community involvement, and offer tertiary educational support so badly needed in the west."

Olivia Grange, minister of youth, sports and culture, told our news team that the land offer would not be indicative of the Government's softening its position on the UTech Trelawny stadium bid.

"There is a working relationship and an understanding established with UTech," she said in a written response to a Sunday Gleaner query.

Grange, who is overseas, promised a full response when she returns to the island tomorrow.

Underutilised facility

The Trelawny facility, a sprawling bit of real estate, was built with a US$30-million loan from Beijing and mostly Chinese labour for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, of which Jamaica was one of the hosts.

Trelawny hosted the opening ceremony and a few warm-up matches. Since then, a handful of international soccer matches and other sports have been played at the stadium, but it remains a mostly under-utilised facility in danger of becoming run-down.

The expectation that it would be in demand by professional sports teams, mainly from the United States, for out-of-season training, has not materialised.

Last year, The Gleaner reported that in its proposal to the Government, the UTech pointed out that space restraints prohibited it from accepting some 2,500 students who had met the matriculation requirements from the western parishes, including Hanover, Westmoreland, St James and, of course, Trelawny.

And the university projected that within a few years, the student population at its western campus would have blossomed to 5,000.

The recent staging of the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival at the Trelawny stadium, with talk of it being the annual event's new home, has some critics questioning the priorities of the Golding-led government: entertainment or education?

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com