Vin­ode Mam­chan

Res­i­dents of Diego Mar­tin are be­ing called to an ur­gent meet­ing to­mor­row at 10 am at the Mer­ry­tones Com­plex to dis­cuss the state of the Diego Mar­tin Recre­ation Ground. Co­or­di­na­tor for the up­lift­ment of the ground, Patrick Ram­per­sad told Trinidad Guardian yes­ter­day that the con­struc­tion of a Re­gion­al Com­plex on the site of the Diego Mar­tin Recre­ation ground start­ed three years ago and is still a lay way from be­ing com­plet­ed.

"The Sports Com­pa­ny of T&T (Sportt) un­der­took the up­lift­ment of the fa­cil­i­ty and work start­ed three years ago. To­day we are far off from hav­ing the fa­cil­i­ty com­plet­ed and to make mat­ters worst, over the last sev­en months there has been no work at the fa­cil­i­ty." The site has been ear­marked for a play­ing field for both crick­et and foot­ball, as well as a pavil­ion and light­ing for the en­tire ground. In the sec­ond phase there will be an in­door com­plex in­stalled for bas­ket­ball and net­ball.

How­ev­er, Ram­per­sad said: "We are frus­trat­ed as res­i­dents of this area. The Mer­ry Boys sports club has been with­out a home for the past three years and has been play­ing at St Mary's ground on Ser­pen­tine Road. "Crime is on the rise in Diego and we think that by hav­ing our play­ing fa­cil­i­ty we can make a pos­i­tive change in the young­sters in the area. We are call­ing on all those in­ter­est­ed per­sons to come for­ward and let's chart the best way for­ward out of this cri­sis."