FIFA says nothing stops other stakeholders from doing additional works at the newly rehabilitated Kasama Sports Stadium.
And FAZ Northern Province chairperson Chikonde Mbalazi says FAZ will provide 80 plastic chairs to the refurbished VIP sitting area and assured that the pitch will be restored to its perfect status as was before handover.
Speaking after FIFA and FAZ officials undertook an inspection of the Kasama Stadium, FIFA Lead Regional Development Officer David Fani said the works done at the facility were satisfactory despite need to conclude some aspects.
FAZ Deputy General Secretary Iva Lengwe, Head of Finance Owens Buntele and Communications Manager Sydney Mungala joined FIFA and the regional leadership in conducting a site visit to the Kasama Stadium, which was one of the five FIFA funded rehabilitation projects.
“The scope is there for other parties to come in, even after completion of the project, if there are still works to be done. Other parties can come in and assist the community to improve the facility,” Fani says.The $300, 000 was for the rehabilitation of the stadium with the bulk of that sum gobbled by the pitch installation.
Out of the $300, 000 about $142,076 was for the pitch while $127,751 was for the civil works and $26,983 was for the consultant.
Fani says despite the installer having done a good job on the pitch, it had deteriorated after some gaps in its maintenance. “We took note of the fact that most of the works have actually been done (according to the scope of works), that there was actually a technical handover of the project from the contractor to us. But we acknowledge that there are some few works that need to be done. I do not think we are that far. I think we are really close,” he says.
“Of course what is more important is the playing surface with which the player is playing on. Of course due to non-usage and also no proper maintenance it kind of degenerated but it can be brought back on track with just a bit of work that needs to be done on it within a short space of time to bring it back to life.”
And Mbalazi says the provincial leadership has opened the door for other partners to help with works that were outside the FIFA scope of works.
“We also just calling upon the business community to come to us sit and see what else they can do. We have an incomplete structure. The dressing room there (outside FIFA scope) we have people around here who can come through and assist. Also the civic leaders in this constituency must come through and appreciate because they know football has quite a large following,” he says.
In addition to the rehabilitation to the old dressing room as per scope of works, an additional bigger dressing room was incorporated in the works which requires additional funds to complete.
The VIP sitting area was given a facelift with the perimeter fence erected around the stadium, two ablution blocks and a ticketing office included in the FIFA scope of works.
FAZ has provided 80 plastic chairs that only need installation to complete the process.
Mbalazi says the pitch that had been already handed over by the contractor needed to be rehabilitated after having degenerated due to poor maintenance.
“People have been crying for this facility to open. I think so far, so good. The perimeter fencing has been on point and the inner fencing is standard. Even our pitch, I think the turf is coming up. So we lost it a bit,” he says.
The Kasama Sports Stadium was among five FIFA funded rehabilitation projects with others being David Kaunda (Eastern), Independence (North Western), Kaole (Luapula) and the FAZ Accommodation Centre.
Each of the projects was allocated USD300, 000 for rehabilitation with then bulk of the funds for the pitches allocated to the pitch installation.
Source: FAZ