Bingu Stadium ready by Sept 2016, gets K841mil boost in Malawi budget

The state-of-the-art Bingu National stadium  in the capital Lilongwe will be completed by September this year and ready for opening as government has allocated K841 million ($1213 564)  in the K1 trillion 2016/17 national budget presented on Friday in Parliament.

The Chinese-funded project was completed late last year but the stadium has been idle because government could not pump in funds to enhance electricity supply and have the sewer system operational.

To finalise work on the stadium, the ministry early this year sought K500 million ($721 501) extra funding which was not given.

But after Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Goodall Gondwe,  presented his budget statement in parliament on Friday, Ministry of Sports and Culture’s spokesperson Christopher Mbukwa said the modern facility will be completed in September because of the Treasury allocation.

“K841 million is enough to operationalise the stadium. The project will be completed and opened this year,” Mbukwa said.

He said the funds will be enough to upgrade the stadium to the expected standards.

Mbukwa said the completion works of the stadium will  start at soon as Parliament approves the national budget.

The 2016/17 financial year will start on July 1 this year while Parliament is expected to start deliberations on the budget on Monday.

Construction of the stadium by  by a Chinese contractor to the tune of 70 million U.S. dollars, a concessional loan to be paid back by Malawi government in 20 years,  commenced on July 1, 2013 .

Among other facilities are 56 lounges where families and sponsor groups will have the luxury of watching live events in private.

It also has a press gallery, a gym and Olympic standard synthetic running track around the pitch, and the playing field is covered with special drought-resistant grass imported from South Africa.

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