BY MAVIS NISHIMURA PODOKOLO
CITY Mayor Wilson Mamae said they expect the Multi-purpose hall currently transformed into field hospital to be returned to the Honiara City Council after serving its purpose.
Mamae uttered this when delivering his keynote address at the recent opening of the new field hospital.
“We expect that the hall be returned to us in a useable form so that futsal, basketball, netball, boxing and other indoor sports ca be played.
At its very best, we expect that hall must be given back to us so that Honiara City Council Youth, Women and Sports Division effectively function with a renovated office space-the cost for these things to happen I say must come from Solomon Islands Government,” he said.
Mamae said the building is not only a building but has been a place where families and friends and communities come together to share Joy, laughter and excitement. It is a home to many of our national sporting teams before they travel overseas to represent the country.
“This hall is also home of our Youth, Women and Sports Division that has its head office in the Multipurpose Hall before it was repurposed as a Covid-19 field hospital.
As a consequence, we have lost a space for sporting teams to practice for Pacific Games 2023. This is opportunity cost that we have to take because of strategic decision to repurpose the Multipurpose Hall.
As a further consequence, we have lost a head office for Honiara City Council Youth, Women and Sports Division. Our nine staff are now forced to take early annual leaves for 2020, as result of our commitment to work with the Central Government. These are added costs that we have to forego because of strategic decision to repurpose the Multipurpose,” he said.
