By Arfang M.S. Camara
The Gambia government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports has revealed some updates regarding the planned renovation and remodeling of Independence Stadium.
“It is worthy to note that following receipt of the notice from the Gambia Football Federation of the suspension of the Independence Stadium (Bakau) from hosting International matches, the Ministry of Youth and Sports swiftly convened a meeting of key stakeholders to discuss the matter and to map out the way forward,” said the Sports ministry in a statement.
The Sports ministry added that they formed a task force to do a comprehensive assessment to bring the stadium to the #CAF acceptable standards, noting that the Ministry of Transport Works and Infrastructure, Gambia-MOTWI used the assessment report to develop designs and a Bill of Quantity for the work.
It added that upon submission of its report and BOQ, the relevant Ministries have been engaged to do the needful.
“However, it’s important to note that because the Government operates on an annual budget, a non-budgeted work that will cost the state more than 100 million dalasis can be challenging and doable only after proper consultation.”
“Nonetheless, due to the importance attached to this, the Government has since indicated availability of funds, pending the fulfilment of public procurement processes – a stage we are currently on.”
“We want to inform the public that the renovation and remodelling of the stadium have since been tendered and as per GPPA approval and requirements, the closing of the tender was on 24th June 2022.”
“Last week the Contract Committee did the assessment of the bids and submitted the report and recommended contractors to GPPA for approval. Once that is secured, a contract will be awarded and work will start immediately.”
“The Ministry wants to assure the public, especially sports enthusiasts that the Government is committed to doing an everlasting fix to the stadium’s perennial disqualification from hosting matches, which is largely due to non-comprehensive assessment and cosmetic renovation that secure only one match or seasonal approval.”
Source: MoYS
