Francistown Stadium to be completed in 2015
Keikantse Lesemela | Friday April 11, 2014 11:48
The minister said that what is remaining in the final phase of the project is the construction of the arena that has been held up because of delays in the technical bid.
Swartz told Parliament that two specialist companies were short-listed for the arena works but only one submitted a bid in October 2013.
“Technical evaluation of this bid took a long time to conclude as it involved protracted discussions between my ministry and Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB),” he explained.
Swartz said the site was to be handed over to the contractor yesterday. The duration of the project is 12 months. Swartz said tendering for crowd control installations, alterations, and renovations and associated infrastructure closed on March 12, 2014.
“Evaluation process has been completed and recommendations submitted to PPADB. Project commencement and completion dates can only be ascertained after the award of the project by PPADB but we expect the contractor to be on site during the first quarter of 2014 financial year,” he said.
Last year, the ministry re-assessed the strategy for completion of the project and a strategic decision was taken to split the completion works into two contracts for ease of implementation and monitoring and to un-bundle the project to benefit more contractors.
The process involved separating tender documents into two to facilitate independent contracts. The contracts consist of the stadium arena works, which are mainly the running track, the soccer pitch and associated infrastructure.
The other component includes crowd control facilities, alterations, renovations and associated infrastructure. Under the components, the contractor will build tuck-shops, ablutions, renovate the east and west stands and do mechanical and electrical works.
The 2009 initial completion date for the 27,000- seater stadium has been postponed four times to April 1, 2010; March 2011; December 2012; and now 2015.
The initial budget for the project that began in 2008 was P175 million but after detection of defects, government needed additional P60 million to complete the works.