Over US$45 million Essipong Stadium left to rot

Over US$45 million Essipong Stadium left to rot

Essipong Stadium left to rot: The Essipong Sports Stadium was constructed in 2008 by Former President Kuffuor to host the 2008 AFCON competition held in Ghana at a cost of over US$45 million.

Since then, the stadium located in the Western Region of Ghana just like any of the other stadia in the country has absolutely been denied any form of maintenance and has been left to rot due to the non-maintenance culture endemic in Ghana.

Roofing systems have been torn, exposing the steel frames to corrosion. Washrooms, office spaces, hostels have all suffered some levels of deterioration.

In 2020, the then sports minister Isaac Kwame Asiamah disclosed that a contract has been awarded for the renovation of the Essipong Stadium.

The Minister further disclosed that the renovation of the stadium will be carried out in two phases.

The initial phase which is costed at over GH¢17 million will cover the replacement of existing defective roofing sheets, sandblasting corroded roofing steels, and application of a heavy-duty coating system to guard against further deterioration of the metal structure from the mid-west to the south stand.

In 2021, Asiamah again revealed that the government will spend over US$3 million to complete the first phase of the renovation of the sports infrastructure.

Presenting the 2022 budget in Parliament on November 17, 2021, the Finance Minister, Ken Yaw Ofori-Atta announced that a number of some National stadiums are undergoing renovation which the deplorable Essipong Sports Stadium is now at a 90% completion stage in relation to its renovation.

However, some residents were not pleased with the Finance Minister’s statement as they believe, the renovation been done at the Essipong Stadium is nowhere near 20% complete not to talk of 90% according to their observation.

A Twitter user tweeted that students were charged GH¢2 as a gate fee during an inter-school games organised at the Essipong stadium. The user added that more than 5000 students participated during the school competition for five days.

He wrote; “When inter-schools games are organized in the region, each Student pays GHC2 as a gate fee. More than 5,000 students fill this stadium per day when there’s a school competition. The competition is held for 5 days and these 5,000 students pay 5 cedis for the week.”