HARARE – The refurbishment of the National Sports Stadium is still, far from complete after Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said Wednesday only US$3,8 million out of a projected US$25,4 million has been disbursed so far towards the process.
He was speaking in parliament after he had been requested by MPs to give an update on the progress made so far towards the refurbishment of the 60,000-seater sporting facility since the beginning of this year.
“The engagements with the Ministry of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture indicated that to date, only US$6,75 million dollars has been contracted,” Ncube said.
This, he added, relates to infrastructural development including water reticulation system, installation of the security systems such as CCTV, access control equipment, as well as ticketing system.”
“Out of this amount, the total value of work done and certified amounts to 3,8 million which has since been paid for in full,” said the Treasury boss.
He said representations made by the Local Government Ministry this year put the total budget at US$25,4 million towards the full refurbishment process.
Of the amount, US$17,5 million would be channelled towards refurbishment of infrastructure, improvement in security and access control while US$7,9 million was aimed towards other works such as palisade fencing, groundworks and other ancillary works.
Ncube could not commit to any timelines in terms of funds disbursement towards the works, adding, “There’s no predictable implementation and cashflow plan with attendant milestones to effectively execute required works at National Sports Stadium.”
In his 2024 national budget, the minister only set aside US$2,75 million towards the refurbishment of the facility.
Government’s half-hearted refurbishment of the sports facility would come with a lot of distress for many Zimbabwean football fans who have been deprived of their privilege to watch the national teams in action on home soil after all stadiums were banned by CAF for failure to meet the required standards to host international matches.
The Zimbabwe Warriors and local teams such as Dynamos and Ngezi Platinum have hired sports facilities in countries such as Rwanda, South Africa and Botswana to host international matches.
