27 Sep 2017

The laying of an artificial turf at the Lekidi football pitch kick-started on Tuesday with an official ground breaking ceremony.

Giving an overview of the project, Botswana Football Associations (BFA) president, Maclean Letshwiti said the pitch would help in youth development since the BFA had committed the FIFA project to the development of grass roots football.

“As BFA we have put it upon ourselves that we roll out the FIFA resources to grass roots development and youth leagues,” he said.

He noted that there were significant benefits that come with being a FIFA member, and that the “project is one of the benefits of being a FIFA member, it’s a way in which they try to assist member associates and members who comply with the FIFA statutes to enjoy these benefits,” he said.

BFA CEO, Mfolo Mfolo also  said the artificial turf was an initiative of FIFA president, Giano Infantino. He added that the turf would be beneficial to the development of football as well as contribute to economic developments.

The P4 million project has been awarded to Artificial Grass Africa (AGA), and is expected to take three months to complete.

The company director, Pierre De Groote  said they would do civil works in the first two months and lay the artificial turf in the following month.

“We have an enormous experience in this field having done eight pitches in Benin and 49 pitches in Africa alone. We did the TP Mazembe Stadium in the DRC and an academy pitch for Abedi Pele just to mention but a few,’ he said. ENDS