Fred Vubem
8 May 2008
After the official signing ceremony at the Hilton hotel yesterday, the Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Augustin Thierry Edjoa, met with the press at the conference hall of his ministry to edify the public on the contract signed with the Chinese to build stadiums across the country.
The minister said the Chinese were chosen after a tender offer from government as they were the only one who were prepared to build, operate and hand over to Cameroon. He said land to build the sports facilities have already been acquired and the compensation exercise for the displaced population was already underway.
Responding to questions from journalists that the project might not be executed in time due to custom harassment, the minister quoted the Prime Minister who said, the whole government was going to throw its weight behind the success of the project. Outside custom harassment, the minister said any impediment will be dealt with by the concerned government department.
The Minister threw more light on the project which he said is going to span ten years and will take place in three phases. Phase one comprises the construction of stadiums and sports complexes in Yaoundé, Douala, Bafoussam and Limbe. However, as the minister of Sports and physical Education explained in a press conference that followed the ceremony at the conference hall of his ministry, it could happen that the project be executed within a shorter period of time as it all depends on the availability of finances and partners who will be willing like the Chinese to pre-finance the projects.
As such the second phase of the project estimated to cost some CFA 94 billion, comprises the construction of a 3000-seat sports complex in Olembe in addition to the stadium, a new campus for the higher institute of Youth and Sports and a three-star hotel. It will also include the construction of a 15.000 seat stadium in Garoua as well as a 2000-seat sports complex.
The third phase will see the construction of stadiums in Bertoua, Bamenda, Ngaoundere, Maroua, Kumba, Buea and Sangmelima to the tune of CFA2billion.
Another peculiarity of the new stadiums is that they have provision for other sports disciplines like athletics as the number of tracks will now move up from seven to nine, there will equally be facilities for other in door sports disciplines such as volleyball, basketball, handball and for the case of Douala, there will be an Olympic swimming pool. The stadiums will comprise among other things, electronic score boards, up to date press cabins and treated green tops.
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