Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Vincent Oppong Asamoah has stated that the cost of rehabilitating the Accra Sports Stadium is too much for the ministry alone to carry.
Mr. Asamoah said the estimated cost of rehabilitating the deteriorating metal railings at the Accra Sports Stadium is GHc12 million and indicated that the cost was too much for the ministry to bear alone.
"The total estimated budget for the ministry in 2016 for assets is GHc1.5million," he said and indicated that the amount was nowhere near the cost of fixing the metal railings at the stadium.
The Deputy Minister said these on the floor of Parliament yesterday when he appeared before the House to respond to some questions filed by the Members of Parliament (MP).
Freda Akosua Prempeh, MP for Tano North displayed pictures of the poor state of the facilities and wondered why the ministry had been idle while the two facilities deteriorate.
Ms. Prempeh said "When you go to the Accra Sports Stadium, the score board is not working, the chairs have been broken, the grass is not in good shape, and the toilet facilities have deteriorated. Why did the ministry sit idle and allow all this to happen?"
The MPs said the infrastructure at the Accra Stadium and the Kaneshie Sports Complex were deteriorating and urged the Deputy Minister, who was representing the out-going minister, to explain why the two facilities had been left to rot.
The Deputy Minister noted that the National Sports Authority had submitted a request for proposal for a Public Private Partnership to the Public Investment Division of the Ministry of Finance and indicated that the arrangement would result in the rehabilitation of the Accra Sports Stadium and other stadia in the country.
Mr. Asamoah said minor maintenance of the stadium was performed with the meagre internally generated funds of the authority.
He could not give any specific estimate on the total cost of rehabilitating the entire stadium but said that the little resources available would be used to manage the stadium before a private investor came on board.
With regards to the Kaneshie Sports Complex, the Deputy Minister said a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed between the Ministry and Thumbay Group of Companies in Dubai to rehabilitate the sports complex.
"The project when it finally takes off will breathe new life into the deteriorated sports complex and provide facilities like swimming pool, tennis court, among others”
"Currently, management of the Kaneshie Sports Complex is done by the National Sports Authority and the National Youth Authority from their meagre resources," he said.
On the estimated cost of renovating the entire project, Mr. Asamoah said the MoU was only an expression of interest and added that the actual cost of renovation would be known in the ministry's subsequent engagements with the Dubai firm.
He assured the House that the ministry would continue to explore avenues of securing the necessary funds to rehabilitate the two facilities to improve sports in the country.
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