President John Dramani Mahama has announced his government is taking steps to provide modern sports infrastructure in regions without standard stadia, with plans underway to replicate the Tarkwa GoldFields stadium model across the country.
Addressing journalists at a press engagement on Wednesday night, the President revealed that the Ministry of Sports and Recreation is currently working on the design and costing of the projects.
“We promised to build stadia in all the new regions and the regions that don’t have modern stadia. So, as I speak, the Ministry of Sports and Recreation is doing the design and costing of the stadia, and Upper East is one of the regions that has been captured to receive a new sports stadium,” he said.
He pointed to the cost efficiency of the Tarkwa GoldFields stadium, which was constructed at a fraction of what government projects have historically cost.
“What we are doing is, Tarkwa GoldFields built a standard stadium for their football activities, and I was surprised to learn it cost about $13 million.
“When the Government of Ghana built a stadium, it cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Those of you who have been to Tarkwa and have seen the stadium, it’s a standard stadium, and it takes about 10,000 people. So, if GoldFields built it for $13 million, then government too should be able to do the same,” he explained.
Mahama added that government has contacted the architects and designers of the Tarkwa project with the aim of replicating the model in other regions that do not yet have standard stadia.
“So, we’ve asked them to find out the architect, the designers, and everybody who worked on the stadium, so that we can replicate it in other regions that don’t have stadia,” he concluded.
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