Taiwan finances new sports arena
Twenty-four hours is not a whole lot of time to visit a city, let alone a country, but Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is packing in as much as he can. Following public ceremonies and private meetings in Belmopan yesterday afternoon and a dinner in his honour in Belize City last night, the youthful leader this morning looked more like a candidate running for office than a second term head of state. News 5’s Stewart Krohn caught up with Chen and his host Said Musa at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex.
Stewart Krohn, Reporting
Whether you’re the president of a rich country or the prime minister of a poor one, it was one of those opportunities custom made for the cameras–call it a sony moment. Whether it was flag waving crowds, pressing the flesh with young athletes or breaking ground on a new project, Said Musa and Chen Shui-bian this morning got to let down their hair a little bit at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex.
The occasion was Taiwan’s decision to fund a new indoor arena. While the National Sports Council provided some rough drawings and site plan, the details of what the facility will look like won’t be ready until the end of the year. What we do know is that the emphasis will be on basketball, with facilities also available for other sports like volleyball, boxing and bodybuilding. Included in the project are the long anticipated upgrades of the athletics and cycling tracks.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Sports
“The Belize Sports Centre really is a dream I think the Government of Belize has had for a very long time and the National Sports Council in particular, has had that dream for a very long time of building a modern multipurpose centre for sports in Belize.”
Fonseca emphasized that the public’s input would be actively sought in the facility’s design, presumably so as not to repeat the City Centre fiasco. As for a budget, that’s also up in the air. The figure of three million U.S. was tossed around this morning, while Taiwanese ambassador Charles Tsai quoted the sum of five million, in the form of a twenty year low interest loan. However the details are worked out no one was more pleased than Sports Council Executive Director Clara Cuellar, who for years has watched the promise of talented young athletes shrivel and die in the absence of modern facilities.
Clara Cuellar, Executive Director, Sports Council
“This is significant because when one chooses facility in sports selection should be based on programme need. And we are already excelling in basketball in our region and our ability bodybuilding is already there as well with performances occurring successfully in our Central America. We are climbing in volleyball and boxing is on the climb again. What that does is give a young Belizean athlete–and that?s why you noticed at today?s ceremony we had all facets–to allow them two things. One, a central location for training at a most cost effective manner; we pay so much right now for accommodation and food and therefore do not have the ability for a training programme with enough time prior to representing the nation.”
Construction is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2005 and while no one is holding their breath on that deadline, there was no shortage of good omens this morning as both leaders seemed to be on top of their game.
Stewart Krohn for News 5.
President Chen left Belize sometime after eleven this morning, en route to Taiwan with brief stopovers in the United States.
