Bullets unveil ambitious project
Local football powerhouse Nyasa Big Bullets plan to construct a 20 000 capacity stadium in Mpemba, Blantyre along Chikwawa Road as part of their ambitious project to build the club’s village.
The People’s Team vice-president Fleetwood Haiya said the 13 hectares space, situated about seven kilometres outside Blantyre Central Business District, will also include office complex, two training pitches, hostels, club house and a conference complex.
On why they are planning to construct a stadium when government already pledged to build one for them whose preliminary phase was already done in Zingwangwa Township, Haiya said: “We are aware of government’s pledge, koma kuwopa kuti umadzadikira madzi a mphutsi [to avoid being caught off guard], we have thought it wise to build our own.
“Because even if government fulfils its promise, we will require another stadium so that the pitch should always be in good shape.
“It is going to be more or less like a community stadium with a capacity of between 15 000 to 20 000 and it will also be used by our reserve and youth teams for matches.”
He said the project will be implemented in phases and the cost will only be estimated once the architects have worked on the designs.
Haiya said the owners of the team, Nyasa Manufacturing Company, are fulfilling the pledges they made in the memorandum of understanding for the club’s takeover.
He said: “We thank the board chairperson and club president Konrad Buckle for fulfilling the pledge he made to source land for the project within the year despite the Covid-19 situation which has affected business globally.
“We are also thankful to the supporters for their understanding.”
Bullets chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda said groundbreaking for the project is set for next month.
“Possibly by March next year, the project should have started and we expect the training pitches to be ready for use by June or July,” he said.
Nyirenda said the club currently spends K30 million per year on office and ground rentals and once the project is finalised, that money will be saved and used for other projects.
“We also hope to make money from some facilities such as the conference complex, the pitches and the clubhouse. So, this is part of our commercialisation drive,” he said.
Last year, Minister of Youth and Sports Ulemu Msungama was quoted by The Nation as having said the construction of stadia for Bullets and Mighty Wanderers was not a priority.
He said, “We cannot prioritise what we [Tonse administration] did not promise. We have to live our dream.
“Building stadiums for Bullets and Wanderers was not on our agenda. Nevertheless, we will proceed with the projects. We have not abandoned them. But how we will do that is a subject for another day.”
Former president Peter Mutharika pledged to construct stadiums for the two TNM Super League outfits during the 2019 Tripartite Elections campaign.
Bullets stadium will cost about K3.8 billion and will be built by China Civil Engineering while that for the Nomads will cost about K3.6 billion and will be constructed by Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company. The projects were allocated K1.6 billion (K800 million) each in the 2019/20 National Budget, but have not been funded since then.
