Minister of Works and Family Island Affairs, the Hon. Clay Sweeting intends to restart work on the Jack Hayward Gymnasium in Freeport, Grand Bahama.

Sweeting accompanied by Minister of Education and Technical and Vocational Training, the Hon. Glenys Hanna Martin recently visited the closed building. According to the works minister the major issues are the air conditioning system, the flooring and generator.

He said, “the next step is to ensure that the flooring, its in Grand Bahama, to ensure that this gets put down as quick as possible and the HVAC systems are also here. The contractor has started to mobilize his team to build the system to elevate the outdoor units in case of another storm and we hope that in the next few months you would see the HVAC installed, the flooring completed and then the generator, which may be a long lead item, installed thereafter. “

Minister Hanna Martin said her ministry is working with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture to create certification programs for teachers and coach who will use the building. She said, “that’s to ensure proficiency, excellence in the sport and we’re hoping that out of this we’re gonna see some really strong athleticism unlike we’ve not seen before. We know we have strong athletes but it’s now being coordinated and structured and targeted. And so we think its going to be just a spectacular display of sporting in the years to come. So we need this gym.”

Contractor Patrick McDonald spoke with officials during their visit to the site.