The Ugandan government is planning to construct four state-of-the-art stadiums; this was revealed recently by the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni after the ground breaking ceremony of the first stadium in Fort Portal town.
The President said that construction of the stadium is very critical for the growth of the country’s economy. He further pointed out that his government will also plan to resolve other infrastructure concerns by investing in other sport facilities.
Cecafa Secretary General, Mr. Nicholas Musonye lauded the plans by the Ugandan government. The other three stadia will be constructed in Bunyoro, Ankole and Kigezi regions. They will constitute of other amenities like hotel and hospital facilities. The whole project will cost an estimated US$ 4m.
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Other countries that are currently carrying out similar projects include Rwanda, Ethiopia, Kenya and Burundi.
According to Publisher’s Construction Intelligence Center (CIC), the top 10 countries (in terms of the value of their project pipelines) account for 92% of the total value of stadium and arena construction projects in MEA with US $10.7bn. In order of project value, these are: Qatar, the UAE, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Iraq, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Algeria, Bahrain and Uganda.
The report provides analysis based on CIC projects showing total project values for the Middle East and Africa market and analysis by stage and funding for the top 10 countries.
It is quite funny how, the four proposed stadia are situated in the west, yet the biggest football following is in the central and eastern regions of Masaka, Jinja and Mbale. Uganda alaways suffers from a disease of ‘bright ideas but negligent planning’.