President John Dramani Mahama has said that his administration is planning to create contemporary sports facilities in areas lacking conventional stadiums, with intentions to duplicate the Tarkwa GoldFields stadium model nationwide
The Ministry of Sports and Recreation is now working on the project’s design and costing, the President told reporters during a media conference on Wednesday evening.
“We promised to build stadia in all the new regions and the regions that don’t have modern stadia. So, as I speak, the Ministry of Sports and Recreation is doing the design and costing of the stadia, and Upper East is one of the regions that has been captured to receive a new sports stadium,” he stated.
He highlighted the cost efficiency of the Tarkwa GoldFields stadium, which was built at a fraction of the cost of typical government projects.
“What we are doing is, Tarkwa GoldFields built a standard stadium for their football activities, and I was surprised to learn it cost about $13 million.
“When the Government of Ghana built a stadium, it cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Those of you who have been to Tarkwa and have seen the stadium, it’s a standard stadium, and it takes about 10,000 to 50,000 people. So, if GoldFields built it for $13 million, then the government too should be able to do the same,” he explained.
Mahama further added that the government has contacted the architects and designers of the Tarkwa project, intending to replicate the model in other regions that do not yet have standard stadia.
“So, we’ve asked them to find out the architect, the designers, and everybody who worked on the stadium, so that we can replicate it in other regions that don’t have stadia,” he established.