Director General of NSA (left), Prof Peter Twumasi, and Deputy CEO of Middle Belt Development Authority, Ms Joyce Opoku-Boateng
Leadership of the National Sports Authority (NSA) and the Middle Belt Development Authority will tomorrow, Wednesday August 12, visit Nkawkaw Stadium, in the Eastern Region, to ascertain the level of damage of the place and prepare for its redevelopment.
This comes after the two Authorities finalised arrangement to renovate the stadium which has been left unattended to for several years.
The Nkawkaw Sports Stadium, the home grounds of Okwahu United, has not seen any meaningful development for several decades, making it a breeding grounds for all kinds of reptiles.
Though the place is used as durbar grounds for major state functions such as Independence Day parade, report says participants are often bitten by snakes and other reptiles.
Almost becoming a forest within a city, the Middle Belt Development Authority says it is worried about the situation of the stadium, hence the need for its redevelopment.
One Million Dollar project
Speaking to the Daily Statesman, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Authority, Joyce Opoku Boateng, said the renovation of the project will be under the government’s flagship $1million per constituency initiative.
She stated that though an initial amount of GHC1.9 million had been earmarked for the renovation, the Authority is now considering a full-scale redevelopment into a FIFA/Olympic standard stadium to serve communities around Nkawkaw, spanning to Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
She stated that the decision for the expansion is to ensure that the place becomes a training ground for future FIFA organised games for teams that will be based in Kumasi.
She added that a redeveloped Nkawkaw Sports Stadium will improve on sporting activities in the area and also have positive effects on the economic activities of the area.
Vindicated
Responding to some issues that came up about the initial announcement of the renovation exercise, Ms Opoku Boateng, who contested in the governing New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary primaries in the area, said the whole brouhaha sprung up when, as part of her campaign message, she promised to renovate the stadium, if given the nod.
She added that the visit to the place tomorrow by the authorities affirms her position that she was not ‘lying’ to the people for their votes.
She added that even though she did not win the primaries, she is happy that the project is going to commence to benefit the people of the area.
Ms Opoku Boateng further stated that since the stadium is a community one, it will not be part of the ongoing nationwide initiative by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to build youth resource centres, with FIFA standard stadia inclusive, but will be managed by the Middle Belt Development Athority, together with the Kwahu community.
