President John Dramani Mahama has questioned why the state spends significantly more on stadia projects compared to similar facilities built by private organisations.
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday night, the President pointed to the Tarkwa GoldFields stadium as a model of cost efficiency in sports infrastructure delivery.
According to him, the 10,000-capacity stadium, which is of international standard, was completed at a cost of $13 million.
“Tarkwa GoldFields built a standard stadium for their football activities, and I was surprised to learn it cost about $13 million,” Mahama said.
He contrasted this with the much higher costs incurred when government undertakes similar projects.
“When the Government of Ghana built a stadium, it cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Those of you who have been to Tarkwa and have seen the stadium, it’s a standard stadium, and it takes about 10,000 people,” he noted.
The President stressed that if GoldFields could build such a facility for $13 million, government should be able to deliver similar stadia without excessive spending.
“So, if GoldFields built it for $13 million, then government too should be able to do the same,” he added.
Mahama revealed that government has already contacted the architects and designers of the Tarkwa project, with the aim of replicating the model in other regions without modern stadia.
“So, we’ve asked them to find out the architect, the designers, and everybody who worked on the stadium, so that we can replicate it in other regions that don’t have stadia,” he revealed.
He mentioned the Upper East Region as one of the areas earmarked to benefit from the initiative.