Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Charles Ramson Jr., says the long-delayed Mabaruma Multi-Purpose Hall project has been retendered and awarded with works expected to restart later this year once contracts are signed.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a recent event at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Minister Ramson disclosed that the procurement process has already been completed.
“The project has already been tendered and already awarded,” the minister said, while noting that the contracts are still to be formally signed before construction resumes.
He added that once the contractual process is completed the ministry will make a public announcement.
“Once the contracts have been signed, we will publicly announce that. They would start working again to get that completed, but we publicly advertised it, we did the designs and everything,” Ramson explained.
The sports minister also made it clear that while construction will recommence this year, the project is not expected to be completed before year-end.
“Those contracts will be started, the works will be started this year, they won’t be finished this year, I want to be clear about that,” he stated.
Ramson said the government’s immediate focus remains on completing the Leonora Multi-Purpose Facility, while they are also hoping to make significant progress on the Lethem indoor complex.
The Mabaruma Multi-Purpose Hall project was initially awarded in 2023 as part of the government’s wider plan to construct six indoor sporting facilities across several hinterland regions. However, after nearly two years of little to no progress the original contract was terminated in November 2025 due to prolonged delays by the contractor.
At the time, Minister Ramson had indicated that the contractor failed to meet the ministry’s expectations, prompting the decision to retender.