Six new sports stadia ready for commissioning – Dr Bawumia

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia says six of the 10 sports stadia being constructed by the government in the formerly 10 regions are ready for commissioning. The Vice President while speaking at the launch of the 100-day countdown to the African Games Accra 2023 in Accra on Wednesday, said the facilities for the Games at Borteyman and the University of Ghana demonstrated government's commitment to hosting the Games, as well as providing much-needed infrastructure to aid the development of sports in Ghana. 'The construction of these magnificent, multi-purpose facilities at Borteyman and the University of Ghana for the African Games, clearly demonstrate our government's commitment to the development of much-needed sports infrastructure in Ghana,' he added. In the past seven years, he said, the government had renovated the Accra Sports Stadium, the Aliu Mahama Sports Stadium in Tamale and the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi. 'Apart from this, the government has also constructed 10 Sports Stadia: one each in all the ten old regions,' he said. Six of the stadia, namely; Wa, Dunkwa on Offin, Axim, Dormaa Ahenkro, Ho and Koforidua are ready and commissioning will start soon, beginning with the Koforidua Sports Stadium, before the end of the year. The remaining four are expected to be completed next year. Vice President Bawumia noted that the government was also developing sports infrastructure at the community level, revealing that 153 astro turfs had been built so far, in communities across the country. It is important to note that when we came into office Ghana had only three public astro turfs in the country but in seven years, we have 153. That, he said, demonstrated government's commitment to the provision of sports infrastructure to provide the right facilities for the development of sports in Ghana. 'With so much investment in national, regional and community sports facilities, Vice President called on the Ministry of Youth and its stakeholders to focus on maintaining the facilities. 'Maintaining th ese facilities is as important as building them, so I want to urge the Ministry of Youth and Sports and other stakeholders in charge of these facilities, to prioritize maintenance,' said Dr. Bawumia. The 10 new sports stadia are multi-purpose, with international standard facilities such as a football pitch, 8-lane athletics tracks, tennis courts, basketball courts, conference rooms, as well as IT and skills training centres for the youth. Source: Ghana News Agency