26 May 2013

The construction of the National Stadium pitch is complete.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure Science and Technology, Dikagiso Mokotedi confirmed in an interview that the work was completed last week, three weeks ahead of the deadline which was scheduled for June 17th.

He said the contractor , Evergreen Turf (Pty) Ltd has finished laying the grass.

However, he said the project was yet to be handed over to them.

“The contractor has requisite expertise to deliver the work and had an impressive record with stadia and had done the stadia used for World Cup in South Africa and those used for AFCON in Gabon.”

Deputy director- project management, John Carrol said this did not come as a surprise as his ministry officials employed project management techniques which required the ministry to partner with the contractor, visit the site and make decisions pertaining to the project as such the project was delivered on time and to budget.

“When you monitor the project a lot of issues that could have become big issues become small,” he said.

Carroll said the ministry ensured that it was always on the ground closely monitoring the project.

He said the pitch was made to FIFA standards and put the country in a better position to host international matches such as AFCON.

Carrol said everything has been taken care of including irrigation and leveling of the pitch and the stadium should be ready for use by August.

The multi-million Pula stadium project was initially budgeted for P67 million and its construction started in 2008 and was scheduled for completion before 2010 world cup in South Africa.

The ministry also embarked on a procurement strategy called design and build where the specialist contractor awarded the project is responsible for the design of the pitch to be able to mobilise appropriate resources in terms of engineers and surveyors. ENDS