The anticipated launch of a state-of-the-art community cultural centre on Olympic Way in St. Andrew will be marked by a boxing match to coincide with its opening.

That commitment comes from Prime Minister of Jamaica Dr. The Most Honourable Andrew Holness who attended the groundbreaking ceremony & site hand-over of the Olympic Way Community Cultural Centre on Wednesday.

The project valued at JMD $127 million is being carried out by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund and is expected to be completed within nine months.

The centre, which will be designed to accommodate 500 to 700 persons, will serve as a multi-purpose facility for cultural events, training opportunities and sports activities.

While giving his address, Prime Minister Holness, the serving Member of Parliament for West Central St. Andrew, also announced plans to organize boxing matches to coincide with the facility’s official opening.

The Prime Minister also revealed the idea behind the construction of a civic facility was inspired by a conversation with a former coach of former WBA middleweight and WBC light heavyweight champion Mike McCallum, who resided in the constituency.

“His coach (Mr. Taft) came from this area”, he said “When I became Member of Parliament [he] would always come to me and say this community has incredible talent in boxing but we are just not harnessing that talent because we have no facility. So inspired by that we built the Olympic Gardens Civic Centre.”