Government of Dominica

$181,000 LIGHTING PROJECT UNDERWAY AT NEWTOWN PLAYING FIELD

 

 

Rehabilitation on the Newtown Playing Field continues as new lights are set to be erected around the perimeter of the field.

This is one in a series of developmental projects currently being undertaken in the Roseau South Constituency.

Member of Parliament for Roseau South, Hon. Chekira Lockhart-Hypolite toured the site on Thursday, May 18 to get an update on the ongoing works.

She says this has been a priority project for her constituency following Hurricane Maria.

“The community of Newtown has been known for its sports and in particular football and post Hurricane Maria our field was lighted but the lights got damaged after the passage of Hurricane Maria and that has been since in 2017 and today we are realizing the lighting of the Newtown savannah. As the Parliamentary Representative one of the approaches that I have taken in my constituency is to meet with the community and find out what it is that they want to see happen in the community in terms of development and one of the major ones was the lighting of the playing field,” Hon. Lockhart – Hypolite stated.

Six new metal poles will replace the existing wooden light poles with the aim of revamping football in the area.

“That’s not only for the young people but for the middle age and the old. Newtown is a community that sports, football it brings us together as a community and everybody comes out to support our team Harlem and so today we are at the stage where we are casting the poles to prepare for the lighting of the playing field. We are being more resilient, we’re no longer using the wooden poles but we’ll be utilizing the steel poles. There will be six poles around the perimeter of the Newtown savannah and the intention is to ensure that semiprofessional football can be played,” she explained.

This project is being done at a cost of over one hundred and eighty thousand dollars.

“There was an issue before of dark spots on the playing field and that is because it wasn’t well lighted and we now having the six poles and much better lighting because the cost of this project is $181,000 and I really want to thank the Honorable Prime Minister for adhering to my request and making the funds available so that we could light up the mecca of football in Dominica,” the Roseau South MP noted.

Hon. Lockhart-Hypolite hopes to revive the off season league in the constituency, when the project is completed.

“One of the things that has been missing in Newtown’s football is our off season league. We are known to have our off season and that sets the stage for the premiere league and as soon as we have lit up the field I intend to see the off season league kick off sometime in July. The contractor has said to me that the expected completed date will be in the next two to three weeks for the project and so the off season we are looking to improve on our football because one of the complains that I have heard from the Harlem Sports Club and the footballers is that by the time they have come from work its already dark and so they do not have sufficient time to train. So we expect that the quality of the football will improve due to the fact that they will be able to train for much longer periods because of the lighting facility,” she added.

 

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