Ruiru Stadium set for Sh200 million facelift

Kiambu County Government through the Kenya Urban Support Program in collaboration with Ruiru Municipality will upgrade Ruiru Stadium to a tune of Sh 200 million for the year 2020/2021, a project that will be funded by the World Bank.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, municipal manager Fredrick Karanja Mwangi revealed that the project is expected to come into completion by the end of the current financial year.

“The county government and the World Bank have been able to fund the municipality to a tune of Sh484 million and for the stadium, we have allocated 200million that will elevate the stadium into one that can host national and international matches,” he said.

Ruiru Stadium has been playing host to Football Kenya Federation Divisional games with Ruiru Hotstars FC using the facility as a home ground and its upgrade may attract top tier league matches.

The upgrade will include construction of stands although the municipal manager mentioned that the stadium will mirror the Thika Stadium that holds 5, 000 fans. Offices, changing rooms, toilets and shades will also be a priority.

Currently, the stadium do not have a single seat and most of the fans watches from the outside since the erected mesh-wire fence cannot allow more than 200 people inside.

The major project is part of Municipal’s plan to improve the standards of the fourth most populous town in the country as it eyes a city status.

Martin Kangiri, the Programme Coordinator of the six municipalities in Kiambu County, said population is not the only factor that will make Ruiru qualify to become a city but also infrastructural developments and a conducive environment for doing business.

“Kiambu county government has been working to provide urban infrastructure and institutional frameworks for these urban centres to meet the threshold of a city,” he told Citizen Digital.

The sporting facility received a major facelift that saw the stadium carpeted and fenced with wire mesh in 2016/2017 during the tenure of Kiambu County’s first governor William Kabogo.