Soccer lovers in Zomba have expressed frustration over slow pace of Zomba Stadium project saying they have not watched Super League games in the city for several years.
A soccer lover in the city, Anderson Miwanda, told Malawi24 that construction of Zomba Stadium has taken almost six years now, describing this as insult to soccer lovers .
“This delay in unfortunate and is denying people in Zomba chances to watch Super League games,” Miwanda who resides in Chikanda Township added.
The uncompleted Zomba Stadium used to be Zomba Community ground before government decided to upgrade it to a stadium in 2017.
“It would have been better if the Zomba Community ground remained as it was because it was the only ground that used to host Super League games in the district,” he said.
Miwanda wondered whether the stadium will finish this year as promised having observed that the turf is nowhere to be seen and there are no dressing rooms except for few toilets that have been constructed.
In addition, only two stands are complete in the meantime casting doubt whether government is serious with the stadium project in the interest of sport development.
“Let Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Sports and Ministry of Local Government intervene on this for the sake of people in Zomba who have been denied sports entertainment in the name of football and other games,” Miwanda said.
DEC Construction is the contractor of the Zomba Stadium which is expected to accommodate 20,000 spectators.
DEC Construction site foreman, Wilfred Kandeya, said the company is trying its best to complete the project soon and that they are working on the grass turf on the pitch which is being affected by heavy rains in the city at the expense of progress.
He further explained that construction of two big additional stands has started and Kandeya has made assurance that the construction of the two stands will finish sooner than later.
A group of people that stand in solidarity as concerned citizens recently expressed their deep concern over the delay such that they planned to have an audience with ministers of Finance, Local Government and Sports in Lilongwe to discuss the sluggish pace of the Zomba Stadium project and the frustration of people in Zomba over the delay.
However, the concerned citizens and ministers audience did not take place as planned.
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