The government has officially handed over the Namboole stadium site to the UPDF Engineering Brigade to upgrade the stadium to international standards. Namboole has not hosted an international game for the past four years.
The official commissioning event was presided over by State Minister for Sports Hamson Obua. A perimeter wall (4.1 Kilometer) around the Stadium land will be built first and it will cost Shs3.8 billion.
Construction of the perimeter wall is expected to take the next four months. The bigger renovation and upgrade of the inside stadium facilities will cost Shs 97 billion, lasting for at least nine months.
Kira Municipality MP, Ssemujju Nganda demanded a resettlement plan by gov’t for the people who have been staying on Namboole Stadium land (Kireka B).
Commenting about the development the State Minister for Sports Hamson Obua said he was grateful for the commitment the government had undertaken.
“The project cost for renovating and upgrading Mandela National Stadium was sh 97b. As we speak, out of this required funding sh67b has been approved both in cabinet and already passed by parliament as part of the supplementary towards renovation and upgrade of the stadium.
The stadium was built with a grant of US$36 million from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Originally it was called Namboole Stadium, getting its name from the hill on which it was built. It is now officially called Mandela National Stadium, named after the former South African president, Nelson Mandela. It was opened in 1997 with a concert by Lucky Dube, a reggae artist from South Africa.