Ministry of Sports and Youth says K50 million is needed for the maintenance of Bingu National Stadium so that the stadium can host Malawi National Team matches.
This was disclosed yesterday during briefing on maintenance and operation of Bingu National Stadium by Ministry of Youth and Sports, Parliamentary Committee on Social and Development and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) on Monday.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Youth Oliver Kumbambe said that the stadium gets money from treasury and as a ministry they are working with treasury to make sure necessary resources are in place.
Kumbambe added that the ministry also allows Malawians to host activities such as weddings, religious events, dances, education visits and some sports activities by charging them a fee.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) told journalists that the major challenge that was identified over and above smaller issues is the field of play which is what makes stadium and they can broadly say that there is a big improvement.
On his part, Chairperson of Parliamentary on Social and Development Affairs, Seval Kafwafwa said they were disappointed to hear that Malawi will not host its home games in the World Cup qualifiers.
The Member of Parliament for Dedza North Constituency therefore asked banks FDH to raise the money so that the stadium can host the rest of the football games.
“I would like to appeal specifically to FDH because I know that it has developed interest in supporting sports activities even the other banks. l would prefer in the next two weeks to hear announcements that the 50 Million is available. I will have hope that come October we might host some of the matches here,” he said.
Bingu National Stadium was constructed using a concession loan of about 70,000,000,00USD from the Government of the People’s Republic of China.
The stadium expected average revenue annually is about K60,000,000 but total revenue for 2020/2021 was only K19,344,000 due to poor turn up of clients for various reasons including lack of furniture and high security expenses.
The facility has huge liabilities in form of arrears and bills due to poor funding.
Due to the poor condition of the facility, the Malawi National Team will play its home game of the World Cup Qualifiers next month in South Africa.
