The promised new home for 12-time Panora­ma cham­pi­on Des­per­a­does Steel Or­ches­tra is ex­pect­ed to be com­plet­ed and oc­cu­pied by mid-year.

The new $14 mil­lion pan the­atre, on George Street, Port-of-Spain, in­cludes pan stor­age, a con­fer­ence room, a pa­n­yard, a stag­ing area and stands.

At the sod-turn­ing cer­e­mo­ny for the new fa­cil­i­ty last year, Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley promised that the site will be “the re­al Mec­ca of steel­pan in the world.”

Pan Trin­ba­go pres­i­dent Bev­er­ley Ram­sey-Moore said that she is hop­ing more sites like these are con­struct­ed for oth­er steel­bands for fur­ther de­vel­op­ment of the art form.

“It is a very im­por­tant space in the com­mu­ni­ty. We in­tend for all bands that are prop­er­ly struc­tured and well-or­gan­ised. We are go­ing to con­tin­ue to speak to the Gov­ern­ment to pro­vide that kind of as­sis­tance to them,” she said.