Africa-Press – Namibia. After over fifteen years of construction, the Eenhana sports facility remains unfinished.
Walde Ndevashiya, the governor of Ohangwena, revealed this on Friday at the official launch of the Governor’s Cup in Eenhana.
Slowly but surely, the sports facility has been developing since the Eenhana Town Council granted it over 10 hectares of land in 2008. However, as the stadium is still under construction and will require more years to complete, Ndevashiya expressed the extreme difficulty they face in fostering young sports development.
According to him, in 2007, the Eenhana Town Council initiated fundraising efforts to gather funds for the establishment and expansion of a multi-sport facility in Eenhana, intended to serve the region. He informed Agnes Tjongarero, the Minister of Sports, Youth, and National Service, that the facility has remained unfinished since 2007.
“I believed that this was the right platform to have her in their midst and be informed of what is going on in terms of the development of the sports field,” he added.
Ndevashiya further said that the frequent inclusion of young people may give the impression that the leadership is not conveying information to the central government to expedite the completion of the sports stadium.
According to Ndevashiya, young people claim that they are expected to compete at national, international, and regional levels. However, they feel disadvantaged as they are unable to compete on par with athletes from other regions possessing similar sporting facilities.
Responding to Ndevashiya, Tjongarero acknowledged her awareness of the Eenhana sports facility since 2015, but no progress has been made thus far. She emphasized the need to reform the current system.
“We Namibians have a problem in that we receive tenders but fail to fulfil them,” she said. Tjongarero also added that many bidders who are given the opportunity to construct these facilities do not follow through.
She indicated that many of the bidders do not appear to possess the necessary ability or resources to complete the projects. “We are obligated to restart the bidding process when they embezzle the funds and abscond,” she said.
Tjongarero stressed the importance of ensuring that only qualified candidates are accepted to bid for such projects.
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