An audit report into the sustainability of sports stadiums in Ghana has concluded that the National Sports Authority and the Ministry of Youth and Sports have not done enough to maintain sports stadiums in Ghana and manage them on a sustainable basis.
The damming verdict, issued by the Auditor-General in a 63-page report, effectively concludes that there has been no plan for the operations, maintenance and sustainability of stadiums particularly those upgraded or built for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana.
The Executive Summary of the report said:
“The MoYS did not have a policy on operations and maintaiance of the stadia, and the NSA did not also have a plan to operate and maintain the various stadia. The audit also noted that management of MoYS and NSA did not have monitoring and evaluation strategies to evaluate performance of the various stadia to ensure their physical and financial sustainability
“We further noted that management of the five major stadia did not put maintaenance and action plans in place to maintain the facilities though they have had estate units with engineers and technical staff. With regard to revenue generation, the audit noted that NSA and management of the five stadia did not place measures to ensure that the commercial facilities were put to maximum use to generate revenue for the physical and financial sustainability of the stadium.”
The stadiums referred to in the report are the Accra and Kumasi Sports Stadiums which were refurbished extensively for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, the Essipon and Tamale Stadiums, which were purposely built for the tournament and the Cape Coast Stadium, constructed many years later.
The total cost of refurbishing and building new stadiums for the Africa Cup of Nations came up to $ 135million while the Cape Coast Stadium cost $33.5million with the help from the Chinese government.
The Essipong and Tamale Stadiums have deteriorated badly with the former deemed unfit in 2019 to host the Africa Women Championship.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana