Luanda — Gabon has this year alone allocated a budget of $240 million (about Sh18 billion) to be used in infrastructure development ahead of the 2012 African Cup of Nations, the chairman of their tournament local organising committee, Rene Adiaheno, revealed in Luanda.

Gabon will co-host the 28th edition of the tournament with neighbours Equatorial Guinea. Adiaheno said during a presentation to the media that Gabon was investing millions of dollars in sports infrastructure, hotels, roads and telecommunication in preparations for the biennial African football fete.

His counterpart from Equatorial Guinea, Ruslan Nsue, also said massive investment was under way in his country, including the building of two new stadiums for the tournament. The opening ceremony will be held in Equatorial Guinea and the final will be hosted by Gabon.

Develop infrastructure

CAF awarded the 2012 tournament to the two small west central African countries in 2008 in a drive to take the event to non-traditional venues and spur sports development.

CAF president Issa Hayatou has often argued that awarding the game to smaller countries, as was the case with Burkina Faso in 1998 and Mali in 2002, led to development of new sporting infrastructure that benefited the people of those countries and Africa.

The Angolan government spent an estimated $1 billion dollars (Sh75 billion)| to build four new stadiums and other infrastructure for the current edition. Football Kenya Limited has officially indicated to CAF their intentions to bid for the 2016 edition.

Government commitment

But Nicholas Musonye, who sits on the CAF media and national association committees, said Kenya 's bid was bound to fail because the country cannot fulfill minimum requirements demanded by CAF.

"To be considered you must have held a CAF age grade or women's competition. You must also have three to four world class stadiums or indicated you will build them. Finally you need to have unequivocal government commitment in writing. Kenya has not fulfilled these requirements," Musonye said.

Musonye, who has direct access to Hayatou and is privy to CAF's operations, said unwavering government support was paramount for Kenya to stand any chance of hosting the tournament.

Other countries that also want to host the 2016 games are Morocco, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia. Lack of government support led to Kenya's withdrawal from hosting the 1996 games, embarrassing both the country and CAF. Libya will host the 2012 edition.