The Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA), The Gleaner has learnt, has expressed several concerns over the readiness of the National Stadium ahead of next week's Boys' and Girls Champs.

A reliable source close to ISSA told The Gleaner yesterday that the management of the Independence Park Limited, operators of the National Stadium, is yet to get the facilities in tip-top shape for the April 1-4 Championships.

The complex's cleanliness, the high jump and shut put areas, lighting and track at Stadium East are just some areas of concern.

"The amount of money we are paying, we don't think we are getting value for it," the source said.

It is understood that ISSA is paying close to $4.5 million for the complex over the four-day period.

When asked about the concerns raised by ISSA yesterday, Major Desmond Brown, general manager IPL, said: "More or less, everything is in place.

"What has not yet been completed, we have it online to be completed."

He added: "We have a few issues to be resolved ... everything should be resolved before Champs starts," he promised.

Meanwhile, Major Brown said little changes have been made to the seating.

Numbering changes

"We had some numbering changes and we are doing repairs to the flooring area inside the stadium itself based on recommendation from the fire department, so all of those things we are working on," he said.

The National Stadium holds approximately 30,000 people, including just over 5,480 grandstand seats.

A meeting between the parties was planned for last evening.

Despite the concerns stated by ISSA, Major Brown believes the "stadium is as good as it was in last year".

He also said they, wanted to upgrade the bleachers' area.

"There are some issues for the bleachers that we would like to have resolved," he said.

"We need to do some work to expand the vending area and toilet facilities, but these are capital projects that we need a fair amount of capital to do and we are working with the ministry to get this done.

"These are improvement we would like to see," he pointed out, noting it will not happen this year.