By Trevor Thwaites (St. George's correspondent)

ST.GEORGE’S, Grenada: The Canadian Bank Notes Company Limited is providing support to Grenada in its preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. It has provided EC$750,000 to assist in the upgrading of the Lasagesse Playing Field for the event. The ground is one of two venues that will be used by teams competing in the Super Eight section of the competition to train for the six games to be hosted at the National Stadium between April 10th and 20th, next year.

Vice –President of the Company, Craig Bascombe, made the presentation to Sports Minister the Hon Roland Bhola during a brief ceremony at the Ministerial Complex last Friday. “The Caribbean and Central America is Canadian Bank Notes largest and most important export market and Grenada is among our most valued and long standing customers in the region,” Bascombe said during the presentation ceremony. He indicated that his company in addition to providing lottery systems has also been supply the country with the apparatus for the issuing of Machine Readable Passports.

“We value our relationship with Grenada very highly and have developed a bond with the Lottery Authority and the country over the years and as a result we are committed to help such a project. I was very supportive when Mr Noel suggested that we support the project to upgrade the Lasagesse Cricket Field for the World Cup next year. As result, I am delighted to provide the minister of a cheque for EC$750,000 for the Lasagesse Project,” Bascombe remarked.

The Canadian Bank Note Official congratulated the Lottery Authority for the success it has achieved, since restoring operations following Hurricane Ivan. He praised the effort of the local authorities in their bid to develop the sporting infrastructure for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 and other events in the future.


The gesture was warmly accepted by the Sports Minister, who thanked the CBN official and his company for the assistance. It was a happy moment for the sports minister, because the National Lottery since its operations began in 1993, has being disbursing funds for sports and the general development of the country.

However, the positions were reversed on this occasion and the National Lottery was on the receiving end. “It is going to cost the people and government of Grenada EC$1.7 million to bring the facilities at Lasagesse up to international standards for the world cup. The contribution of EC$ 750,000 is more than welcomed coming from CBN,” he said after receiving the handsome cheque. The minister called on the media and other sectors of the society to assist in ensuring that the facilities when completed are appropriately maintained. He said that the support is more than welcomed following the destruction caused by the two hurricanes.



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