The Sunday News
RENOVATIONS at stadia that will host events during the African Union Region Five Under-20 Games in Bulawayo in December have started.
The White City Stadium has been closed to prepare for alterations while renovations are ongoing at Barbourfields Stadium and Luveve Stadium.
The Games’ local organising committee’s chief executive officer, Henry Manzungu, revealed last year that White City Stadium’s cycling track would be demolished so that the athletics track has eight lanes as per international standards and a tartan track would replace the cinder ash one.
At the netball courts, stands will be constructed to accommodate 5 000 people as well as erection of ablution facilities.
The terraces at White City, which were condemned by the city’s engineers, would be replaced while a warm-up track would be built outside the stadium.
Bulawayo City Council public relations officer Bongiwe Ngwenya said the contractors completed making assessments at White City and should be moving into the stadium once all logistical arrangements are in place.
She could not reveal the cost of the renovations, adding the stadium would be closed for the duration of the construction work. The Government is funding the renovations, with a total of $46 million reported to have been availed for the improvements.
The Games will run between 4 and 14 December in the city.
“White City Stadium has been identified as the centre for the games and will be a major hive of activity. We expect that renovations be finalised in time for the Games which will be held in December,” said Ngwenya.
Barbourfields Stadium’s sitting capacity will increase from the present 26 000 spectators to between 30 000 and 35 000 while two more changing rooms will be built to bring the total complement to four and the VIP stand will also be renovated to meet international standards.
Manzungu told Sports, Arts and Culture Minister, Andrew Langa, during a tour last year, that the spaces between the stands at Barbourfields would be sealed so that there were no open gaps in between. This will see the facility assume an oval shape.
At Luveve Stadium, workers found on site revealed they were building a VIP section and adjacent dressing rooms and ablution facilities. One of the workers said on Friday that they moved in at the beginning of the week and were most likely to take three months to complete the job.
The present dressing rooms at Luveve Stadium would be changed into public toilets that will accommodate close to 60 people at a given time.
Ngwenya said a number of council sporting facilities will undergo renovations this year in preparation for the AU games and these include swimming pools, tennis courts and stadia among others.
The Zone Six Games were inaugurated in 2004 in Mozambique following a Council of Ministers of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) Zone VI meeting held in 1997 in Cabinda, Angola. On 7 September 1999 during a special meeting of the Zone Six Supreme Council for Sport in Africa in Johannesburg, it was agreed that the Games be held bi-annually on a compulsory and rotational basis by the member states.
The Games have since been organised and hosted by Mozambique 2004, Namibia 2006, South Africa 2008, Swaziland 2010 and Zambia played host to the fifth edition in 2012.
The aim of the event is to use sports to achieve peace, integration and unity in Africa and also make sport as a vehicle for encouraging people to develop and come together irrespective of colour, economic status, political inclination, class or gender.
