Armed with $6.2 million from yesterday's Budget, the Board of Trustees is ready to get moving on the next phase of the National Sports Centre.

In fact, Chairman Donald Lines says within the coming fortnight they will advertise for tenders for two more major components of the Frog Lane complex - the pavilion and the astroturf pitch.

Some other minor aspects of the project - including the building of perimeter walls and storage facilities - will also be put to tender - but the main focus will be the pavilion and artificial turf.

"Nothing happened for the last year. We were treading water since November 2001 but we started doing some planning when Government indicated we could get some money. Now we'll put things in a higher gear," said Lines.

Though Government would like the upcoming construction to be completed by mid-summer, the Chairman noted that will depend on certain variables.

"I have no idea of the projected time, not until I see what comes in from the tenders. Before the tenders are accepted, we have to decide whether or not the price is right based on specifications from our quantity surveyors. Then the tenders have to be approved by Government. It takes a while to go through all this.

"Also, the construction industry is quite overheated right now so there may be some problems in getting people to do it," he noted.

In any case it is very likely that foreign expertise will have to be sought for the artificial turf.

"That's specialised work and I am sure the people doing that will be from abroad. Nobody has ever done it in Bermuda," indicated the chairman.

Explaining that Government has approved the expenditure of a further $10 million on the NSC, Lines said the Trustees were given the go-ahead to borrow $6.2 million to restart work, being told it would be covered in the Budget.

However, the Trustees had only borrowed $1 million thus far. They will now repay this and use the remainder of the money from Government.

Pointing out that the pavilion and astroturf alone "will eat up the $6.2 million", the chairman added that they are not scheduled to receive the rest of the $10 million from Government - $3.75 million - until next year's Budget.