The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune. MAY I respond to the letter signed under the name Ed Fields, "We The People". Mr Fields should recognise, I hope, that this National Stadium could easily become the biggest white elephant, hole in the ocean any Bahamas Government has developed - it could be this whole concept of the Sports Tourism Centre at Oakes Field could become an enormously costly millstone around every tax-payers necks. May I opine that the days of serious interest in Track and Field in The Bahamas have long gone - with the old stadium, which has before we forget an IAFF certified track, over the past many years has been unable to attract even 10 per cent of its potential capacity - imagine now? These stadia being developed cannot be developed in isolation - that is cannot be developed at a considerable cost with little or no chance that they will ever be utilised to the capacity that will make them viable (will cover costs at the least). Yes a CARIFTA games will probably fill the Tommy Robinson Stadium but how many times will the Bahamas get the opportunity to host them over 10 years? Twice at the most so what do you do with the stadium over the empty years? The People's Republic of China gifted the $40m stadium. To put in place the initial infrastructure we the tax payers are expending a further $45 million .... How much will the Baseball Diamond - Softball Pitch and the remaining roads cost? A further $60 million? A grand total of Bahamian tax payers' monies will exceed $105 million - at the least the sports authority will have to create a revenue from these facilities exceeding $15-20 million. I honestly say to all the past Ministers of Sports... you all collectively have made an enormous mistake. I hope I am wrong as we can ill afford having to maintain such facilities without revenues to meet the upkeep costs. Mr Fields who holds an executive position at Kerzner could play an important part to make this a success but athletes don't drink alcohol and don't have the money to gamble and it will be them that have to make these facilities feasible. Will Atlantis discount rooms for the athletes to a price they can afford? On paper, the Oakes Field Sport Centre project looks great, but in reality, oh, my God, have we made the worst investment ever? B FERGUSON Nassau, March 3, 2012.