Africa-Press – Eswatini. The next CAF assessors should have it easy while inspecting the country’s only football Mecca, Somhlolo National Stadium, which will soon have retractable tunnels, big screen and back-up generator, if the country’s recently-tabled 2024/25 budget is anything to go by.
The stadium is set for a multi-million Emalangeni upgrade to ensure it is suitable to host high profile games and events.
The ministry of sports, culture and youth affairs was allocated E35 million for the overall upgrades of the stadium in the upcoming financial year.
This budget is contained in the ministry’s capital expenditure for the 2024/25 financial year as delivered by Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg on Monday.
These upgrades come in the wake of teams crying out loud about not being able to host games there, as it is considered a central venue for big tournaments such as the ongoing SMVAF Ingwenyama Cup. Teams and the football mother body cannot wait for the stadium to be available again.
EFA President Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane recently revealed that three key priorities had been identified by the stadium management that needed to be attended to.
He said the work that needed to be done included a ‘revamp process’ after the technical report stated that they need to have a back-up generator, big screen and to improve the tunnels.
The budget estimates revealed that the E35 million will go towards the last phase of the stadium’s rehabilitation project.
The VVIP area will need E10 million, while the sewer and toilets have been allocated E9 million in the same budget.
Another aspect is the installation of a big screen, where about E3m has been set aside for this activity, the ministry’s budget estimates reveal. Another part of the project is to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the event of power failure or load shedding.
This will cost around E2 million as a back-up generator will be installed.The media room has been allocated E3 million and E2 million for the VIP gate.
After all these improvements, the stadium will await approval from the Confederation of African Football to host international games. Currently, it is banned after it was declared unfit to host such games, resulting in Sihlangu and other local clubs hosting their home games in foreign countries’ stadiums.
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