Exciting times ahead at Fiji Sports Council with Capital Projects underway.

Exciting times are ahead at the Fiji Sports Council with scheduled Capital Project Works well underway and continuing into 2018.

The FMF Gymnasium is scheduled for a grand re-opening in January 2018, boasting its new FSC  headquarters and new roofing, flooring and state of the art sound system features.

Fiji Sports Council chief executive officer Litiana Loabuka says such development works have been a long time coming and it is indeed pleasing to have upgraded facilities offered back to its valued users.

“The FMF Gymnasium and the Vodafone Arena since being built, have withstood years of battling weather conditions, hosting back to back events and still, been able to gain venue hosting rights for countless Internationals and Oceania Sports Championships and High-End Corporate functions,” Loabuka said.

“We are more excited to see the council’s five-year strategic plan for Capital Work Projects come to fruition that is now, very nearly, entering a new era with our Master Plan that will only see more to offer the People of Fiji.”

The upcoming Capital Project works for 2018 is the Vodafone Arena renovations.

Preliminary design works undertaken by Project Management Team Houng Lee Kaba Jacobs (HLKJ) will now see the Vodafone Arena officially shut down in March 2018 to undergo demolition works as the first stage to receiving a structural facelift since being opened in 2003.

The Vodafone Arena was initially scheduled to close from December 31, 2017 but, will now close on February 28, 2017.

FSC Board and Management have been conducting the ground work from June 2017 with Project Team HLKJ undertaking the finer project details from November.

The Vodafone Arena has hosted many firsts, bringing pride to the Council and the nation as a whole in achieving international hosting rights in the likes of Oceania Championships in basketball, Futsal, volleyball, taekwando, karate, weightlifting and table tennis. In netball, World No. 1s the Silver Ferns toured in 2015, while top national events such as the Women’s Expo, Fiji Showcase, the Vodafone Hibiscus Fesitval, Fiji Sports Awards, Fiji Film Awards, Concerts and Tertiary Programmes continue to return on an annual basis.

This project is now scheduled to start in March 2018 through to January 2019 and will result in the postponement or cancellation of certain annual events however, augurs well on the overall scale with a revamped facility that deserves this venue makeover.

Following renovations, the Vodafone Arena will be the first venue in Fiji to assist Weightlifting Fiji in hosting the IWF World Junior Championship in 2019 while Netball Fiji can also boast winning their bid for Fiji to host the World Youth Netball Championship in 2022.

The Fiji Sports Council will remain open throughout this festive season with John Pickering taking on the role of Acting Chief Executive Officer.

 -Fiji Sports Council

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