Sunday, February 9, 2025

Ministry admits Francistown Stadium design not properly scrutinised

The Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Christopher Nyanga, has admitted that lack of proper scrutiny in the design plan for the Francistown Stadium by the ministry is one of the problems that affected the long awaited project to be completed on time.

The multipurpose sports facility, which cost the government over P175 million, was due to be completed in April 2010. The completion of the facility has continuously been extended for almost two years owing to issues of bad design in some of its structures.

The defects in the facility include poor construction of the VIP room and the change room.
In an interview with the Sunday Standard on Friday, Nyanga admitted that the Department of Building and Engineering Services (DBES) erred when it approved the design plan before the implementation of the project.

“At the time when the Ministry approved the design from our consultant, we were a little bit lax leading to an oversight on the approval of the design plan from the consultants. The contractor cannot be blamed as he followed the plan as designed by the consultants. We have since adopted new reforms to carefully assess designs for our projects and we will never accept any project if it is poor and does not meet the agreed standards,” he said.

Nyanga could not state clearly when the stadium would be completed as they are yet to source funds from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning to complete the project.

“The reforms that we adopted include the introduction of the Design Audit Committee which is tasked with assessing designs before implementation of projects,” he added.

He also said that the Ministry has also introduced a Quality Audit team, which occasional visits projects to assess on their quality. He said that the team comprises of qualified and experienced engineers and architects. Shoddy work of Francistown stadium follows that of other stadiums like Gaborone and Lobatse.

The National Stadium is yet to be utilized four years after being closed. Lobatse Stadium on the other hand, has to be refurbished again.

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