A Major Facelift For Tema Stadium

The Tema Stadium is expected to receive a massive facelift that will turn it into an all-seater facility before the end of the year.

If arrangements are executed on schedule, the new-look stadium will be ready for use by the start of the next football season.

The project which is expected to cost £1.195 million (about c27.4 million) will be financed by the city of Greenwich in the United Kingdom as part of Greenwich’s support to Tema in their sister-city relationship.

Kemps Ofosuware, chief executive of the Tema Municipal Assembly, said at a meeting with club executives in Tema last Monday that the necessary documentation and arrangements for the implementation of the project had been completed already.

According to a document by UK-based Village Resource Centre Ltd prepared for the purpose and which contains drawings, designs and dimensions of the project, the stadium will have at least 2664 seating capacity on completion, 594 of those seats covered to provide shade for VIPs.

The stadium will also have changing rooms for teams, changing rooms for officials, 30 ladies’ washrooms, 30 gents’ washrooms, 40 gents’ urinals, and a 120-seat conference hall, among other facilities.

The seating stands will, however, be restricted to the sides of the pitch, meaning the project will not cover the areas behind the two goalposts, according to the document.

“It is a project that government is committed to, and that is why delegations have travelled from both sides to the other to make sure it materializes,” Mr Ofosuware said. “I am glad that things have reached implementation stage.”

The Tema Stadium has survived various forms of rehabilitation over the years. Currently, its artificial turf constructed as part of FIFA Goal Projects in Ghana remains virtually the sole attractive aspect of the Premier League venue.

Indeed, fans have shunned the venue because of the lack of seats.