FORMER West Indies captain Brian Charles Lara has been giving advice to Sports Minister Gary Hunt and the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT) on some aspects of the stadium and cricket academy being built in Tarouba bearing his name.

And for the most part, Hunt says Lara is satisfied with the BLCA project except for one key component.

’There hasn’t been any major adjustments that Mr Lara has asked for. He wants some more practice nets on the external, which we are going to move quickly to get done because we need to have something like about 13 nets -because we are going into an academy and you need a lot of nets,’ Hunt said.

Hunt made the disclosure in an interview at the Red House in Port of Spain, last week, but clarified that Lara is a not a paid consultant on the project, which is under the portfolio of the State-owned UDeCOTT and is now expected to cost taxpayers more than $700 million and is three years behind schedule.

The BLCA is part of the proposed Tarouba Sporting Complex that is also supposed to include a velodrome, an aquatic centre and other sporting facilities. Its original price estimate was $850 million in May 2005.

With the Trinidad and Tobago squad playing well in the Airtel 2020 Champions League tournament in India, Hunt said a 20/20 practice match featuring top local players and field officials will be held at the BLCA stadium to allow them to assess pitch conditions. The T&T squad cruised into the semi-final in India yesterday.

’We haven’t pinned down a time yet but it’s very, very soon. Very soon we will be testing the ground with a 20/20 match. That is the intention,’ Hunt said.

He said the input of those attending the practice match will be invaluable, since they will provide, as players and officiators of the game, observations that designers and engineers would not be able to.

’We will have to do corrective measures with the wicket and outfield if needs be,’ Hunt said, adding that the match will not be open to the public.

Asked when the stadium aspect of the BLCA project will be completed, Hunt could not give an exact date but was confident it would be delivered ’very soon’.

The entire BLCA project was the subject of the Commission of Enquiry into UDeCOTT and the local construction sector.