Kenyan committed to host the 2018 Africa Nations Championships (CHAN) when the Kenyan government together with Football Kenya Federation (FKF) promised to deliver the continental tournament.
On Thursday afternoon, the duo committed to pump in money to aid in CHAN preparations as a way of promoting sports in the country.
Sports Kenya acting director General Saima Ondimu and together with deputy secretary in the ministry of Sports Raphael Muiruri together with FKF had a joint press conference, revealing that Kshs 6 billion has been allocated for the five stadia earmarked for hosting the tournament.
FKF chairman Nick Mwendwa confirmed that five stadia – Kasarani, Nyayo, Kinoru, Kipchoge Keino and Machakos are the ones in the pipeline tohost the championships.
He admitted there were delays with the works, which he noted was not entirely the federation’s fault and with talk of standby hosts should Kenya fail to meet the strict timelines amidst all the commotion, he called for calm and total support from all stakeholders to ensure the country gets to host a major continental showpiece for the first time since the All Africa Games in 1987.
“The ultimatum we have from CAF is to ensure that there are workable timelines for us to be ready. The work ahead of us is a lot but still is doable with the right commitment. The government has given the assurance and top ministry officials are here to show the same,” he stated.
A team of inspectors from CAF will be in the country between September 7 and 12 and Mwendwa is confident the kind of progress they will see will be enough to convince them of the steps being made towards the project.
“What I agreed with CAF when we were in Morocco was that when they come they will see work going on. They said they want to see substantial work in progress and we say we are very committed to that. At the moment only Kasarani is close to being ready but I can assure in the next 14 weeks the face will be different,” he noted.
From the plans, a major face lift of Nyayo Stadium is in the offing with the VIP dais set to be brought down and reworked, two more changing rooms constructed, the inner perimeter fence removed, the main screen and floodlights at the venue replaced and a total 30,000 seats chiseled.
With the works already in progress, he further revealed that the stadium will only be open for the AFC Leopards – Tusker game on Thursday 24 August and the Gor Mahia – AFC Leopards game on Sunday 27 August, after which the facility will be shut for the remainder of the year.