Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. signed a bill recently appropriating $8.2 million to help finish the long-stalled Paul E. Joseph Stadium project in Frederiksted, but said the plan needed another $3 million from next year’s budget, too.
The teardown and rebuild of the stadium have been in the works for nearly two decades, since early in Gov. Charles Turnbull’s second term in office, and has been repeatedly delayed for a variety of reasons. Gov. John deJongh even ordered it put back out to bid after concerns arose about one contractor.
Gov. Kenneth Mapp then killed the new contract and started the process anew.
More than $12 million has been spent to date, producing plans and preparatory work but no buildings yet.
“The Legislature having appropriated the $8.2 million across both FY 2020 and FY 2021 will result in the government’s need to come back to the Legislature for an additional request for funding, if we truly intend to adequately complete the stadium project maintaining the superior quality the Virgin Islands expects,” Bryan wrote in his transmittal letter to Senate President Novelle Francis Jr.
