Makueni county to realize its first state-of-the-art stadium at Wote

Makueni County’s glamorous dreams of owning a state-of-the-art stadium are still alive after the Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed on Monday issued a fresh four-month timeline for the completion of the stalled works at Wote Stadium.

CS Amina said construction, which stalled few months after the 2017 general elections, will be revived disclosing that a budget of Sh350 million has been allocated for the completion of the would-be ultra-modern sports facility.

Speaking when she toured the 30 percent work-done facility, Amina further revealed that a total of ten stadia which have stalled across the country will be completed by end of this year in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s new directive.

However, Amina did not disclose if the government had engaged another contractor or not for the construction of the stadium.

“We’ve been ordered by the President to inspect all the stalled sporting facilities and ensure that by the end of this year we have ten completed stadiums. We’ve toured Meru, Eldoret, Kisumu and today we’re in Wote. We have put plans on how the construction will resume soon in all those places and here (Wote) the contractor has promised to adhere to the timelines,” she said.

The minister who was flanked by her Principal Secretary Joe Okudo and Makueni Governor Prof. Kivutha Kibwana said she was keen to oversee the completion of the stalled works at the sporting facilities in the country.

Botched stadia projects have become a prominent highlight of failed campaign promises by the Government but the CS says President Kenyatta remains committed to fulfilling that pledge.

“All the stalled facilities will be revived. Nyayo Stadium renovations work is 95 percent complete and that shows how the ministry is committed in ensuring what the government promised has been fulfilled,” she added.

Wote Stadium was among the lofty pledges of seven state-of-the-art stadia made by the Jubilee Government in the run-up to the 2017 general elections and which were supposed to be completed in a span of one year, in a bid to support the sports industry.

In an interview with Citizen Digital last year, Mwingi West MP Charles Ngusya who is also a member of the Sports Committee in the National Assembly, said the contractor who was awarded the tender for Wote Stadium project has already been paid Sh89 million while only 30 percent of the work has been done.

On his part, governor Kibwana promised to work with the national government to ensure the work is completed within the set timelines.