{"id":88200,"date":"2025-10-17T08:09:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T08:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium"},"modified":"2025-10-17T08:41:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T08:41:58","slug":"ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium","title":{"rendered":"Ebrima Sillah Hails Major Renovations at Independence Stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Minister of Works, Transport, and Infrastructure, Ebrima Sillah, has described the ongoing renovations at the Independence Stadium as \u201cphenomenal,\u201d highlighting significant progress in addressing concerns raised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In an interview with West Coast Radio, Minister Sillah said the government acted swiftly after the initial issues were identified, ensuring that the stadium meets CAF\u2019s standards. The scope of the project was also expanded to include the surrounding infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA phenomenal job has been done at the stadium. When the first issue was raised that the renovation happened without consultation with CAF, we responded efficiently to their standards. They later came back to say that in addition to the stadium, we also need to fix the adjacent roads leading to the stadium and a parking center, so right now, Arezki is doing the roads as I speak to you,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n<p>The road improvements cover routes from Bertil Harding to the National Youth Service behind the stadium, extending to New Town and the main entrance.<\/p>\n<p>Minister Sillah also addressed issues concerning the stadium pitch. He explained that the contractor had offered to train stadium management on proper maintenance, but the offer was declined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen they fixed the pitch, it was suggested to the stadium management for them to continue to train them, but they said they would be okay with it. Unfortunately, I think the way they were watering the pitch, a lot of weeds started coming out, and it kind of overgrew the pitch,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding unpaid bonuses for national team players, the minister confirmed that the government is aware of the issue and is taking steps to resolve it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I am made to understand is that these are bonuses, and the government is aware of it now. Discussions are underway to assure them that those ones will be settled. We hope the players will listen and then play, and then they get paid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>While acknowledging the financial challenges the government faces in meeting all demands, Minister Sillah reaffirmed the administration\u2019s commitment to sports development. \u201cIt is always difficult for a resource-constrained country to meet all expectations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The Minister of Works, Transport, and Infrastructure, Ebrima Sillah, has described the ongoing renovations at the Independence Stadium as \u201cphenomenal,\u201d highlighting significant progress in addressing concerns raised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). In an interview with West Coast Radio, Minister Sillah said the government acted swiftly after the initial issues [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":88199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-88200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ebrima Sillah Hails Major Renovations at Independence Stadium - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Minister of Works, Transport, and Infrastructure, Ebrima Sillah, has described the ongoing renovations at the Ind ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ebrima Sillah Hails Major Renovations at Independence Stadium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Minister of Works, Transport, and Infrastructure, Ebrima Sillah, has described the ongoing renovations at the Ind ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-17T08:09:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-17T08:41:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/sm_1760677844.987618.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ebrima Sillah Hails Major Renovations at Independence Stadium\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-17T08:09:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-17T08:41:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium\"},\"wordCount\":382,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/10\/sm_1760677844.987618.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ebrima-sillah-hails-major-renovations-at-independence-stadium\",\"name\":\"Ebrima Sillah Hails Major Renovations at Independence Stadium - 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