Trelawny Chamber of Commerce Supports UTech’s Proposal to Lease Stadium

President of the Trelawny Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dennis Seivewright, has come out in support of efforts being made by the University of Technology (UTech) to lease the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium in order to expand its tertiary offerings in western Jamaica.
“I see this proposal as a great boost for the expansion and economic growth of the parish of Trelawny, which is being regarded as the factory for athletes. It is indeed very timely that we would, in the not too distant future, be getting a facility that could also train our young athletes coming out of primary and secondary schools. We need another touch of G.C. Foster type institution in Western Jamaica,” Mr. Seivewright told JIS News in an interview.
The President said that UTech recently made a presentation to the Chamber that impressed him, as they are willing to add to the whole purpose of the sporting facility, instead of taking away from it. They also propose to establish track and field facilities, and an international sized swimming pool, he added.
“With such a facility in Trelawny, we would not have to be sending our athletes all the way to St. Catherine (G.C. Foster College) for training. So, you can imagine that our production of athletes certainly is going to multiply. Also, the University would now be accessible to Western Jamaica, whereby people would not have to do all that travelling in order to acquire tertiary education. We look also at the long-term economic benefit to the parish in terms of housing development, with people coming into the parish,” Mr. Seivewright said.
“This would stimulate lasting and sustainable economic growth, which would be effective, in that every man on the street would benefit from this type of development,” he told JIS News.
The President said that when there is structured housing development and related services provided, then you would have various professionals coming into the parish.
“You would have more hospitals, schools, taxi men, lawyers, restaurants, teachers and the many skilled workers benefiting from all this. We see this as a great boost for the expansion and economic growth of the parish. I personally hear or see no other tangible proposal for the stadium and the point is that if UTech gets it now, they are saying that they can have the university up and running by September this year,” he said.
“I also hear that a large number of students are ready to be enrolled but cannot get into the University of the West Indies or UTech, hence we need to speed up this proposed expansion as a matter of urgency,” Mr. Seivewright added.