Government assesses equipment to refurbish National Sports Stadium
Mako Jerera
Government has procured bucket seats to refurbish the National Sports Stadium in support with its partner Sakunda Holdings.
An inter-ministerial delegation is in China on a pre-shipment assessment tour of the equipment.
The sight of the Warriors playing home matches away from home because the National Sports Stadium is not approved to host international matches has pushed Sakunda Holdings to partner government to speed up the refurbishment of the facility.
An inter-ministerial delegation has been dispatched to China to assess the bucket seats and other equipment needed for the upgrade of the national stadium.
It includes an engineer from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, a technocrat with the Sport and Recreation Commission and a representative from Sakunda Holdings.
The delegation visited Avant Sports Industries this Monday to assess progress as well as check on compatibility with FIFA standards.
“The government has now decided to do direct procurement after delays in the previous methods and together with our partners we have been assessing everything before it was being shipped and also making sure that we get all the fittings and post-installation maintenance support,” said Acting Director Sport and Recreation in the Ministry of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Ignatius Vambe.
The delegation also made sure everything meets international standards.
“We have assessed all their certificates and also did a background check to see if they have FIFA certification and we are happy they have all that we also needed to agree on the scope of work and also get to support after installations because we also want to be able to keep this thing in shape after these installations,” said the Director for Local Government and Public Works, Engineer Nicholas Mutengu.
Avant Industries is a reputable sports infrastructure manufacturer that has already done bucket seats and fittings for other international stadia like the Uganda National Sports Stadium, Duvilla International in Algeria, the new Egyptian Military Stadium, Czech Convention Centre and Norway Sports Complex, among others.
The first set of shipments is expected in Zimbabwe within the next six weeks, while other civil works with regard to the fitting will start in the next two weeks.
The National Sports Stadium has several outstanding issues for it to meet international standards.
These include bucket seats, electronic turnstiles as well as security and evacuation systems.
The first phase of the National Sports Stadium refurbishment has already started with the installation of close circuit television cameras (CCTV) and civil works for the installation of electronic turnstiles.
The refurbishments will culminate in the installation of bucket seats with the stadium earmarked to be ready by 31 December this year.
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