Contractors ‘abandon’ stadia sites
Despite immediate past sports minister Francis Phiso’s assurance that Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers stadia projects would commence immediately, Weekend Nation has established that both contractors are not at the sites.
During the groundbreaking on June 13, Phiso said construction of the stadiums would start on the same day and would take 18 months.
But our visit to both sites on Tuesday this week established that after levelling the grounds, the contractors left with their equipment.
However, in an interview on Wednesday, spokesperson in Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture Simon Mbvundula insisted that everything is in order.
He said: “As far as we are concerned, everything is intact. If you established something to the contrary, then contact the Department of Buildings.”
A Weekend Nation visit to Wanderers’ stadium site at Kanjedza Forest near Blantyre Teachers College, established that the foundation stone had been vandalised by removing the placard.
We also found three men cleaning the ground with shovels and one of them claimed in an interview that they had been hired to do piecework so as to create an impression that work was in progress.
He said: “We come here everyday to clean the place so that it should appear as if work is in progress. We are getting K1 500 each a day from the contractor.”
We also established that motorists are now using the site as a short-cut route.
When we visited Bullets’ site at Zingwangwa Secondary School ground near Moneymen Club, there was no sign of life and people are now using it for driving lessons.
However, Department of Buildings in the Ministry of Transport and Public Works director Terrence Namaona said contractors will be on the ground later this month.
He said the projects are now at mobilisation stage whereby contractors are gathering their equipment ready to kick-start the projects.
“After a contract is signed, we give time to the contractor to start mobilising equipment, this is when we talk about performance and advance capital bond.
“This is also the time when payment is facilitated. So, everything is intact and our contractors will be back on the sites soon, possibly next [this] month,” said Namaona.
He said his office is not aware of the vandalism that has occurred at Wanderers’ site.
Immediate past president Peter Mutharika pledged to construct stadiums for the two TNM Super League outfits during the May 21 2019 Tripartite Elections campaign period.
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.
