Basketball ACT "has been forced to put a multimillion-dollar upgrade of its Belconnen precinct on hold," but President David Leaney said that it has not been "scrapped as their courts struggle to cope with increasing demand," according to Jon Tuxworth of the CANBERRA TIMES.
Leaney said that the A$7M project "has been pushed back to 2017 at earliest," the organization "opting to improve its financial health before revisiting the plan."
Basketball ACT "had proposed building three international quality courts at Belconnen, bringing the number of courts there to seven," as part of a 4,000-meter extension including office, parking and change room upgrades.
But Leaney said that "it simply wasn't feasible at this stage and Basketball ACT will now investigate hiring courts at schools, University of Canberra and the Australian Institute of Sport." The ACT government "had dedicated a big chunk of the money needed," but Basketball ACT "couldn't justify the bank loan required, nor asking members to fork out significant contributions." Basketball ACT "also appointed two new board members," Debbie Cook and Gary Pettigrove, at its annual general meeting on Tuesday night.
VP Greg Evans, Treasurer Brad Barnes and Dir Jerry Lee "all retired from their posts after completing two-year terms" (CANBERRA TIMES, 2/26).
