By Dawda M. Jallow and Kemo Kanyi
Honourable minister of Youth and Sports, Bakary Y. Badjie has made a familiarization tour of the Independence Stadium to get informed about the ongoing renovations.
Honourable Badjie disclosed that the first phase of work at the stadium cost funded by the government was D130 million, and the second phase budgeted was D153 million. According to him, a total of D283,000,000.00 is required for the two phases. The third phase is yet to be budgeted as per the minister’s revelation of funds.
He told the media that he was aware of the concerns of the Gambians about the state of the country’s only stadium. He expressed hope that the renovation work would be completed in the next few months.
“I know the independence stadium is one place that every Gambian is interested in and even those who are never interested in sports are now taking up discussion of the stadium as a major issue and I have talked about it multiple times for the right reasons,” the minister said.
“We all know it is the only stadium in the Gambia. Playing outside the country wasn’t the desirable conditions but that is what we find ourselves. As we can see the work is progressing and just started two weeks ago as Mr Faye said our anticipation is that in four months’ time from the period of starting the work will be completed an we will be able to bring back our matches to play home,” he added.
Ebou Faye, General Manager of the Independence stadium, also informed the press that as required by CAF, a media centre will be built for journalists with all requirements, including a press conference hall, staircase leading to the stance where journalists are seated, separated seating area for journalists with full access to the internet, a new and standardized scoreboard are required by CAF.
He says they are always in touch with the CAF technical team, who are advising them as they proceed with renovations.
He disclosed that they were also advised by the Confederation of African Football to increase the height of the perimeter fence around the stadium to avoid people scaling over during matches for security reasons.
