Casimir confident of work on National Aquatic Centre

Work is ongoing on the site of the Saint Lucia National Aquatic Centre (NAC), scheduled for completion in October 2026. And Minister for Youth Development and Sports, Kenson Casimir, is confident that the nation will be ready to host the 2027 CARIFTA Aquatic Championships, from March 27-31.

Excavation began in earnest in April of this year, just after the 28th edition of the CARIFTA championships in Trinidad and Tobago. Then president of the Saint Lucia Aquatics Federation, Eddie Hazell, expressed the need to buckle down and ensure the pool was completed well in advance of the meet. He and Casimir estimated an 18-month construction timeline, weather permitting. 

Through his company, West Indies Shipping & Trading, Hazell has had the modular pool in storage since early 2023. The Aquatic Centre has been under discussion for decades, and ground was broken in a different location in 2015. At one point, the superstructure was supposed to have been finished in early 2021. 

“We have to make sure we are on our game,” stressed Hazell in April of this year. “I am pleading, I am begging, in the national interest, that this games due for 2027 must come off, and put Saint Lucia on a real sporting map… It’s all about logistics, it’s all about meeting with our federation, meeting with the authorities, meeting with National Lotteries [Authority], the minister, everybody that’s supposed to be involved.”

Minister Casimir says that work is progressing apace on the facility, which will add to the sporting plant in Gros Islet, the constituency he represents in the House of Assembly. The NAC will abut the Beausejour Gymnasium and the National Tennis Centre, and will be metres away from the island’s premier sports venue, the decades-old Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.

Casimir expects that the contractor, IDC (Caribbean) Holdings Ltd, will accelerate construction in the coming months, as they currently are awaiting receipt of further equipment from overseas. IDC is a recognised engineering firm that has worked on World Bank projects, with expertise in civil engineering, roads, and bridges. 

“Work continues on the National Aquatic Centre,” Casimir reminded reporters on October 27, at the pre-Cabinet press briefing. “Obviously, for me, not fast enough. I was a sprinter, 100 metres, 200 metres, before that, 60 and 80 metres at the age of nine and ten. So, for me, everything needs to happen fast and faster. 

“But from some engagements, I’ve understood that most of the equipment, most of what’s going to be used in terms of materials, is coming from China. Some have landed. Others are landing as we speak. And so we should see the work actually pick up at the National Aquatic Centre. We will be hosting the CARIFTA Aquatic Championships in 2027, and that is the goal, to ensure that we have a very well-run state-of-the-art swimming facility for Saint Lucia, that is the envy of the rest of the region. And I am more than confident that this will happen.”

When the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre opened its doors in the early 2000s, Saint Lucia became the first territory in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States with a 25-metre swimming facility. When the NAC opens its doors in just about a year’s time, it will be the first Olympic-size venue in the sub-region. It will also change the paradigm for elite local swimmers in particular, who must travel to Barbados or neighbouring Martinique to gain experience in a 50m pool.

If everything goes according to plan, Saint Lucia will host the entire region for the first time, with more than 500 swimmers, officials, fans, and parents from 24 territories in attendance, and the largest team ever fielded by the local Aquatics Federation. Ideally, the NAC could host the 34th OECS Swimming Championships in 2026. The 33rd edition is being held on the weekend of November 7-9 in St Vincent and the Grenadines.