Olopeng anxious over stadium upgrades
Spira Tlhankane | Thursday February 25, 2016 15:40
He said this at a press briefing on the Botswana 50th celebrations on Tuesday.
Olopeng said they hope the contractor will finish the project on time. He said the contractor is scheduled to have finished the renovations in August. “I am being conservative on this, we don’t know. The contractor might finish in July or September, so the issue is a risk,” he said.
Olopeng said the upgrades will increase the stadium capacity from 22,000 to 28,000. “We will bridge the gaps between the stands and make a complete round stadium,” he said. Olopeng said they are working with the Ministry of Infrastructure Science and Technology to make sure that the stadium renovations are completed before the celebrations on September 30.
Olopeng announced that the BOT50 committee is looking to bring a football team from outside the country to play against the Zebras.
“We are targeting countries like Nigeria, Cameroon and Egypt so we are hoping they respond positively,” he said. Olopeng said they also intend to bring an international game to the Francistown Sports Complex on September 30, but budget constraints might hamper that. “We want to bring a team from across the border like Zimbabwe,” he said.
BOT50 chairperson, Boyce Sebetela said the intention is to have a club from Zimbabwe playing against a selection of players from around Francistown called Francistown XI.
“At district level, we want to select winners of the constituency tournaments and divide them into two groups and in the end the winners will play on September 30,” he said.
He said they have not sidelined other sporting codes during the celebrations, but clarified that football was only chosen out of popularity. Building up to the celebrations, Sebetela said they have already approached bikers and cyclists for a potential partnership.