The State Minister for Sports, Hamson Obua has officially handed over Namboole stadium to the UPDF Engineering brigade to start renovation works on the facility .
The renovation works will be in two phases, with the first one being the construction of a 4.1 kilometer boundary wall to fend off encroachers before renovations around the playing surface, flood lights , running track and the media centre among other facilities in the stadium.
Minister Obua described the first phase of construction of the boundary wall as the start of the journey to protect the facility’s land from encroachers.
“This is the journey to ensure that in the nearby future this land is sustained for posterity of development of sports related infrastructure in Uganda,”Obua said.
He however asked locals to support the construction works.
“I appeal to the local community for maximum corporation. The UPDF is a pro-people army and they will be willing to corporate. In this generation, we have to deliver because history will judge us.”
Anne Abeja, a board member for the Mandela national stadium said they have a “very ambitious” strategic plan that runs up to 2025 but said it could not be effectively implemented over a number of challenges.
“We could not embark on it because of challenges like encroachment but what we are undertaking today for over the next four months to construct a wall, these will be addressed,”Abeja said.
Whereas the first phase of constructing the perimeter wall will cost shs3.8billion and is to be completed in four months, the entire renovation works are set to last nine months at a cost of shs97 billion.
Kira Municipality Member of Parliament, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda in whose constituency the stadium sits urged the UPDF Engineering brigade to put to good use the resources allocated to them for the project.
Background
Officially opened in 1997, the 35000 capacity Mandela National Stadium also known as Namboole is home to the country’s national football team, the Cranes.
Since construction by Chinese over 20 years ago, the stadium has not seen any major renovations around it which is a cause for alarm.
“The stadium has got outdated infrastructure – the bowl, halogen floodlights that consume a lot of power, electrical installations that are not readily available on the market, sanitary facilities need repair or change of plumbing installations,” Mandela National Stadium Managing Director Jamil Ssewanyana told Daily Monitor in 2020.
“Then the lack of a CCTV system and real time access controls (turnstiles) to monitor the stadium users on entering the stadium, during and after events.”
In 2020, CAF released a report in which it deemed the stadium unfit to host any international matches including Cranes qualifiers.
The facility had failed to meet both the continental body and world football governing body-FIFA standards, prompting the ban.
CAF highlighted the playing surface, size of the pitch, dressing rooms, floodlights, pavilion, technical bench, media centre and parking among others that are in a dire state.
Following the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, the stadium was turned into a treatment centre .
Consequently, Namboole has not hosted any international game for the last four years, with educationist Lawrence Mulindwa’s St.Mary’s stadium in Kitende being used to host the games.
