Job on Tamale Sports stadium not complete - Pelpuo

Tamale, Aug. 8, GNA - Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, acting Minister of Youth and Sports has expressed concern about the exclusion and completion of some vital facilities in the construction of the Tamale Sports stadium.

He said the stadium has been nicely constructed but noted that the delay in the construction of some vital facilities such as the car park, hostels, cafeteria, stores and furnishings has not depicted its beauty and stressed the need for measures to be put in place to ensure that the remaining jobs were completed.

Mr Pelpuo expressed the concern on Friday when he inspected the stadium and other sports infrastructure in the Tamale Metropolis to see how best the government would improve upon the existing ones and construct new ones to develop various sporting activities in the Northern Region.

The Minister who is on a one-week inspection tour of the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions was accompanied by Mr Abuga Pele, National Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme, (NYEP), Mr Wolanyo Aggra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Sports Council and Allen Agbenate, Deputy Director at the Ministry. Mr Pelpuo told the GNA Sports after inspecting facilities at the Tamale sports Stadium, the Kaladan Park and the National Youth Centre that the ministry would immediately mount a boxing ring and a gymnasium at the Tamale Sports stadium to revamp boxing in the area. He expressed concern that there was no adequate supply of water in most parts of the stadium while the tartan tracks had only single coating instead of the approved double coating, which he noted was not the best for the athletes use.

The Minister therefore called on the contractors responsible executing the remaining facilities at the Tamale Sports Stadium to ensure that they complete the finishing touches to ensure that the stadium befits its international standards and status. On the situation at the Kaladan Park and the Youth Centre, the Minister said there was the urgent need to give the facilities a major facelift to ensure that multi-purpose games are organised there, noting that, "Since government has the intention of developing sports at the grassroots level."

"We want also to encourage night soccer, so we would develop the Kaladan Park and the Youth Centre and connect electricity there so that people can have sporting activities at all times including the nights", he said.

Mr Pelpuo and his team later visited Rogam Links Ghana Limited, a company that is to enrol about 5,000 youth to offer them ICT training including mobile phone repairs to make them become self-employed as means of solving youth unemployment in the area. The Minister and his team expressed satisfaction with facilities at the company's office and commended the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Mr Roland Agambire for the foresight and opening of branches all over the country and gave the assurance that government would support any initiative intended to alleviate poverty and unemployment across the country.