THE National Sports Council (NSC) has clarified why the Iumi Water Sports Park located at DC Park in the Henderson Area, Central Guadalcanal is yet to be utilised.

Two main reasons were cited.

In a statement issued by NSC Board Chairman on Monday, 7^th October, Joe Sika Manuopangai said, the Iumi Water Sports Park, at DC Park next to Alligator Creek, Central Guadalcanal was handed to the NSC by the National Hosting Authority on 1 May 2024. 

The Iumi Water Sports Park has not been used since the hand over to NSC for 2 main reasons. 

1. The two national federations for sailing, outrigger and canoe have yet to meet their obligations in relation to the Solomon Islands National Sports Council Act. The Act requires all national federations to register with the NSC annually. To date, neither national federation has registered despite numerous attempts from NSC for them to do so. 

The NSC has tried to get all national federations to comply with requirements of the SI NSC Act by registering since the beginning of the year. Since then, we have yet to receive registration documents from the 2 national federations. The NSC needs these registration documents to ensure good governance and to what extent their sports are active. 

The Solomon Islands Outrigger and Canoe Federation had their AGM over the weekend and are taking steps to register with the NSC as soon as possible. 

• Safety is a paramount concern for the NSC when using the Iumi Water Sports Park venue. There was a lot of safety equipment used in the venue for the Pacific Games to ensure safety of those using the venue. To date, no safety or indeed sports equipment has been transferred to the NSC in line with the handover of the venue. With Alligator Creek being in close proximity, these safety concerns are heightened. Thus, from a safety consideration, it is currently not possible to open the facility to the national federations and members of the public. 

The facilities need the equipment which ensured smooth operations during the Games. NSC looks forward to receiving all sports and safety equipment, for all sports, in order to open the facilities to all.