OP-ED: Nakivubo Stadium is the next modern sports facility in East Africa

There are people who may not stand as the most hardworking Ugandans today but God has blessed them with the reasoning capacity to realistically and critically transform their nations.
This connects directly to what Tycoon Hajji Hamis Kiggundu is doing in downtown (Kampala) in transforming the sports industry by redeveloping the Nakivubo Stadium to the next modern and internationally recognized sports facility in the region.

This is one of the greatest achievements Uganda will have in the sports industry because from the time the contractor began his job, it has been under tight monitoring and inspection by officials from the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) so that all the FIFA requirements and construction procedures and steps of an internationally recognized football facility are followed accordingly.

Currently, the development of Nakivubo Stadium is at 75% and the 35000-seater facility is also expected to house other sports activities like athletics, netball, bodybuilding, basketball, volleyball, boxing, and fitness centers among other sports activities.

Besides the ordinary section, the stadium will have VIP, VVIP and Executive wings that will have a seating capacity of 20 people with a lot of amenities. I am reliably informed that this world class facility will also have 2 cinema halls with a seating capacity of 300 people, six big restaurants on top of the nice dressing rooms, the home and visiting teams will have medical rooms, referee’s room among others.

Initially, the stadium was projected to end in 2019 but the construction of this facility had stalled due to Covid-19, which led us into a long lockdown and high cost of production. This modern facility would have been completed but never-the-less, come 2025, Uganda will be hosting its national, continental and international games from Nakivubo Stadium because the building team has done surveys in countries with internationally recognized stadiums and the beautiful ideas are being implemented here.

Although the developer is well committed of fulfilling his promise to Ugandans of having this world class facility, we must accept that Covid-19 affected him to an extent that the planned USD 50million amplified to about USD 150million which came as a result of high cost of production, transporting materials from the foreign countries and limited movements of international football facility inspectors.

I can assure Ugandans that the developer of this modern stadium, Hajji Hamis Kiggundu is on track to not only complete the work in the shortest time possible, but also to make a statement about the capacity of Ugandans to do the best. To be realistic, this is not just a stadium but a legacy and clear illustration that if Uganda is to develop, it’s our responsibility as Ugandans to develop our motherland.

Ugandans who are criticizing this project should be patriotic enough to accept that if they cannot do it themselves, they should support a fellow Ugandan who is committed and ready to add a strong brick on his country and leave a lasting legacy. Fighting our local investors demoralizes others Ugandans who would have gotten interested in developing and investing in their country.

I believe that those with negative energy, thought that this stadium could be completed in just 6 months forgetting that having an international clearance to construct such a facility, requires a lot of time, knowledge and money.

The public should not be worried about the stadium being surrounded by the business community because globally, all stadiums are becoming multitasking productivity where both the business and sports can go on concurrently.