Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah on Thursday, September 09, 2021 paid an important visit to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, Kumasi as part of his regular inspection exercise on some ongoing projects in Kumasi.
The Minister inspected the progress of the nearly complete renovated stadium to get firsthand information where admitted, he was left impressed with the standard of which the renovation has been advanced.
He was welcomed on arrival by the staff of the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the National Sports Authority (NSA) led by Acting (Ag.) Director, Mr Emmanuel Kojo Appiah who introduced his management members before touring the edifice.
Principal Estate Officer, Mr Kofi Addai was designated by the Ag. Regional Director to take the Honorable Minister through the major works that have been undertaken at the stadium since its closure in February 2020.
Mr Kofi Addai confirmed that, the first phase which focused on grassing the pitch, laying of tartan tracks, fixing of seats and fixing of underground pitch drainage systems, installation of scoreboard and floodlight is about 97% done.
He also revealed, the second phase which will focus on offices, construction of aquatic sports facility, building of courts, wiring, etc will begin sooner than later.
On the first phase, Mr. Kofi Addai confirmed that about 17,000 of the seats were initially thought to be broken before the renovation began so they brought in about 23,000 new seats to replace the broken ones.
They have since then fixed about 21,978 seats and there are extra 1,000 available seats that have been kept to replace any future damages.
For the VVIP, he confirmed, initially they had 155 seats but they want to make it comfortable for users so they are fixing 87 of them just like the ones at the Accra Sports Stadium. He however confirmed that, the seats there are yet to be fixed.
The tartan tracks have been laid as well but Principal Estate Officer revealed, it is now left with the marking on the tracks where the challenge has to do with identifying an accredited IAAF agent to do the markings to meet international requirement to host any international competition.
According to Mr Addai, the Four flood lights inside the stadium have been installed with each tower having 58 LED bulbs which will make it suitable to host sporting activities in the night
He added, the scoreboard has also been installed and currently, some local staff of the NSA are being trained to operate the unit when the stadium is finally commissioned.
Mr Kofi Addai also explained to the Minister that, there were a lot of leakages from the roofing which necessitated for the roofing to be fixed as well and at present, there is no leakage challenge.
He also revealed, most of the washroom materials have been changed while all the 39 irrigation points are done.
On his part, the Ashanti Regional Minister, Hon. Simon Osei-Mensah expressed his delight with the work done so far on the facility.
He also stressed on the need to maintain the facility in an appropriate manner and appealed to the public to handle the seats especially with optimum care.
He said, anytime the stadium is opened to the general public especially the students, they should not do anything to damage the seats.
He then suggested that, schools in the future should be surcharged if students damage the seats during sports competition.
The Ag. Regional Director, Mr Emmanuel Kojo Appiah thanked the Minister for the visit and assured him, he will be disciplined and be committed to the work and collaborate with the Minister’s office in his tenure at office.
He also thanked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for investing in the sports development goal and also, expressed his appreciation to the Director General of the NSA, Prof. Peter Twumasi for his constant supervision.
By: Stephen Afful/NSA-Ashanti Region