National Stadium opens its gates to the public

The five-year wait is now over as the National Stadium will finally open its gates to the public this Saturday during a Zebras-Uganda game.

The poor quality turf that was laid by the former contractor back in 2008, forced the Ministry of Infrastructure Science and Technology to reject the project, hence delaying the completion of the National Stadium.

Due to the poor quality job the Ministry had to spend an additional P 7.8 million to hire a South-African company-Ukhamba Green Services for the design, reconstruction and two years maintenance of the pitch. The money was an addition to the P60 million that was set aside for the project in 2008.

Speaking at the handing over of the Stadium to the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture, Minister of Infrastructure Johnnie Swartz said despite the delay and problems experienced through the implementation of the project they are proud of the end product.

“We have learned from mistakes made during this project and we will avoid repetition of such failure in future.”

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Shaw Kgathi said the project comes a long way and it was finally completed in a quality state despite the societal pressure that was experienced.

“The previous tuff state was not good just ordinary pipes that looked like they were from a poorly constructed house were used and we just couldn’t approve something like that,” he said.

Kgathi said the stadium would be maintained and managed by the Botswana National Sports Council.

The stadium will also host this year’s independence celebrations.