The government is hoping to complete the rehabilitation of the National Sports Stadium to meet Caf minimum standards by the end of the year, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC) has said.
SRC board chairman Gerald Mlotshwa and director general Elta Nengomasha shared an update over the renovations that are taking place at the facility on Friday.
The first batch of 15000 bucket seats purchased from China has since arrived in Beira, Mozambique from China and will be transported to Harare once paperwork is complete.
“I am happy to report that as of today the first batch of the bucket seats is now in Beira ready to be shipped to Zimbabwe. Those time frames to Zimbabwe are what we are busy trying to ascertain so that we give accurate information,” Mlotshwa told the media on Friday.
He added that the target is completing all the work by December, but they will have to do major work with the pitch itself.
Nengomasha elaborated that while they are waiting for the full complement of the bucket seats to arrive a lot of ground has been covered in relation to other areas that Caf has demanded to be attended to.
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“In preparation to receive the bucket seats and other equipment we are securing the stadium with a new perimeter fence, we expect that to be complete by the end of August,” she said. Water reticulation, if you come to the stadium you will find that the first half of the reticulation has been done. The trenches have been dug and the piping is on site.”
She added that the turnstiles are already at the stadium together with the CCTV equipment but they are now waiting for installation of the equipment.
Generators have been acquired as well as new flood lights.
“We need special lighting for the floodlights which is in line with Caf standards. In terms of the floodlights there is a contractor that is in place and most of the preliminary work has been done.”
The Warriors will play all their home Africa Cup of Nations matches in other countries since the country does not have a Caf certified stadium.
Next month Zimbabwe senior national men’s team will host Cameroon in Uganda and will also host Kenya and Namibia in October and November respectively.