Governor Nyoro plans to relocate Thika Stadium

The County Government of Kiambu is contemplating relocating the Thika Stadium to a new and more spacious place away from the industrious town, county boss Dr. James Nyoro has said.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Governor Nyoro failed to mention where the stadium will be relocated to and how much money has been set aside for the renovation or for the relocation but instead hinted that plans are underway to move Thika Stadium away from the busy town.

The county facility was banned from hosting top flight matches due to its poor state and the county has done absolutely nothing to upgrade the facility since 2018.

Thika United, was the last topflight club to use the facility, way back in 2018, when they were still in the top division.

This term however, Bidco United, also a Thika based club,  promoted to the top tier league, will be forced to use Meru’s Kinoru Stadium at least for the first opening matches before they settle on a convenient ground of choice.

The cooking oil manufacturers have been using the Thika Stadium in their National Super League matches for years now, and moving to Kinoru Stadium has angered head coach Anthony Akhulia who says they could have stayed in Thika, closer to their base, if the facility was in good shape.

“We would really love to play at Thika, there are some issues yes and I understand it’s being worked on. The fixtures indicate that we will be playing in Meru but Meru is very far from here so we are looking for alternatives like Kasarani Stadium, but if Thika will be given the green light, we will definitely play at Thika Stadium,” Ahkulia told Citizen Digital late last month.

Early this year, Kiambu County Assembly Speaker Stephen Ndichu told mourners at Thika Stadium that the county was preparing a motion to rename the stadium in honour of the town’s longest serving mayor, Douglas Mundia who died in February 2020.

Speaking at Mundia’s memorial service held at the stadium, Ndichu said the motion was to be tabled soon, and that they would also consider renaming some estates and streets in Thika after prominent people who served Thika in different capacities.

“I have discussed this issue with members of the county assembly and we have reached to an agreement that because of the great role the fallen mayor played in making Thika what it is, we shall honour him by naming the Thika Stadium or a major street after him, in some cases, some of these names do not make sense for example Magoko Estate,” he told mourners.

In addition, Governor Nyoro has said that his government is also set to remove the astro turf installed at Ruiru Stadium to pave way for construction of a modern state of the art facility.

The stadium carpet that replaced a red-soil field was installed by former governor William Kabogo in 2017 alongside other two stadiums in the county at a cost of Sh42 million.

He said that a budget to construct a new stadium has been made and the latter will be built using funds from the World Bank under Ruiru municipality.

Ruiru stadium will be built at a cost of Sh200 million as it was projected by the municipal manager Fredrick Karanja Mwangi in August 2020.

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Governor James Nyoro Kiambu County Government Relocate Thika Stadium

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