These lights were recently installed at the Catherine Hall Stadium. - contributed

Western Bureau:

The floodlights at the new Catherine Hall Stadium in Montego Bay are now up and ready to be used in the finals of the CONCACAF Under-17 Football Tournament, which will be played at that venue on Sunday, February 27.

"We are happy to see the lights in place as this is yet another step in getting ready for this most important tournament," said Montego Bay's Mayor, Councillor Charles Sinclair, the chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the twelve-team tournament.

"All that's left now is for the lights to be focused."

The lights, which should have been in place from the end of January, were tested in the presence of Mayor Sinclair and members of the St James Football Association on Monday but the Venezuelan engineers, who installed the four pylons which carries a total of 32 bulbs, say there is a little work still to be done.

"Over the next few days we will be doing some fine-tuning work to focus the lights but as far as we are concerned, the greater part of the work was to get the lights in place and that has been done," said a member of the Venezuelan engineer team. "We are happy with the way things are at this time."

advance stage

The wider Montego Bay will get a chance to bask in the glow of the newly installed lights this Saturday as it will be used for the closing races in the 33rd Milo Western Relays, which will be staged at the Catherine Hall venue.

"We will be going beyond our usual 6:15 p.m. cut-off time this year so we definitely plan to use the new floodlights," said Ray Harvey, the meet director for the Western Relays.

In addition to the lights at Catherine Hall, the other phases of preparatory work to get the venue ready is in an advanced stage. The playing surface is now being manicured and last minute patch work being done.

"We will be ready for the tournament," said Mayor Sinclair. "It was a lot of hard work but we are fully committed to making this a wonderful tournament, at least from a Montego Bay perspective."

In regards to the other facilities in St James, the training facilities got the thumbs up from both Manoia Zubiria, CONCACAF's director of marketing; and Tim Howard, the general secretary of CONCACAF, who conducted inspections in the region yesterday

Lilli-Mae Crawford, the St James FA's director of competitions, who spearheaded the work at both Jarrett Park and UDC fields, was naturally elated.

"The stands at Jarrett Park have got a facelift and the playing surface is in peak condition," said Crawford. "Jarrett Park is in such good shape that it could actually be used for the tournament if the need arises."