Africa-Press – Tanzania. AS one way to promote sports in the country, the government has pledged to complete installation of artificial grass in five sports arenas during the 2022/23 financial year.
Breaking the good news yesterday was Minister for Finance Mwigulu Nchemba who made the pledge while tabling the national budget at the parliament in Dodoma.
“Let me use this opportunity to assure Tanzanians that we will install artificial grass at venues of the five regions as elaborated by the Minister for Culture, Arts and Sports Mohamed Mchengerwa.
“To begin with, we will implement the exercise in the Mwanza, Arusha, Tanga, Dodoma and Mbeya regions.
Also, scrapping of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on artificial grass and their equipment will be extended to District councils,” he said. Recently, Minister Mchengerwa, when tabling his ministry’s 2022/23 budget set aside 10bn/- to be used solely for stadium renovations in order to let the beautiful game be staged in friendly arenas.
He disclosed that a total of seven sports arenas will be the first beneficiaries of the exercise which are Jamhuri Stadium (Dodoma), Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium (Arusha), Sokoine Stadium (Mbeya), CCM Kirumba Stadium (Mwanza), Mkwakwani Stadium (Tanga) as well as Uhuru and Benjamin Mkapa Stadiums in Dar es Salaam.
Furthermore, the minister pointed out that the exercise to install artificial grass will be done in five regions of Kigoma, Rukwa, Iringa, Tabora and Shinyanga.
“When we accomplish these tasks, then we will be in a good position to bid for the opportunity to host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals as envisioned by President Samia Suluhu Hassan,” he said.
He also revealed that plans are underway to construct gymnasiums, recreational and leisure centres as well as sports and arts arenas valued at 7.16bn/- while construction of Dar es Salaam Sports Complex has been pegged at 1.5bn/-.
Moreover, Mchengerwa said they also target to construct and refurbish sport infrastructures at 56 sports academies valued at 2bn/-.
Upgrading sport infrastructure is a good gesture which the country deserves at the moment considering that the Premier League is enjoying massive investment as a lot of money has been pumped in it.
As such; the available investment should go at par with infrastructure development and in this case, efforts are urgently required to renovate the playing stadiums, especially pitches whose status are desperate.
There is always enough room for the government to partner with the private sector for the sake of ensuring that Tanzania makes considerable steps in its endeavor of transforming sports by prioritising on scaling up of hosting arenas.
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