CAF trio Okays preliminary works

Accra, Jan 7, GNA- The Confederation of African Football (CAF) inspection team that toured the four sites and facilities for the CAN 2008 have okayed the level of preparation, terming it as satisfactory. The three-member team inspected the sites at Essipong near Sekondi, Tamale and the national 'Wembley', Ohene Djan Stadium as part of procedural mandate from the continental body.

Jean Marie Weber, Marketing Advisor to the Federation told the GNA Sports: "we are satisfied with the spate of work and highly pleased with government's commitment".

Though he reckons the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) would need to exert extra efforts to ensure that preparations travel faster, he said "the government has reassured us about it's commitment to speed up the work as soon as possible, and we trust that they will deliver". He however, hoisted issues about accommodation facilities in Tamale and Sekondi where he underscored the need to elevate their quality and provide new ones to meet the standards desired for such competition. "You know today that the African Cup of Nations has reached a level where everything needs to be of the highest quality for officials, teams and all".

Weber told GNA Sports that the team would be visiting periodically to ensure work progress as required.

"We will be coming from time to time to make sure everything goes on as expected".

He tagged hotels, accreditation, and security as among the prime facilities they relish an improvement upon when they next visit. The trio held discussions with Shanghai Construction Limited, contractors of the new stadia in Tamale and Sekondi, Michileti Contractors for the face lifting of Kumasi and Accra Stadia during the three-day tour.

They visits are scheduled for March or April and September. The visit was their second since Ghana won the bid to host the rest of Africa in the continent's most glamorous biannual soccer fiesta.