"Though it may not be fully complete by then, we hope it will be playable," Kemoeng told journalists in Gaborone on Friday. At the time of going to press, the re-grassing was not even half way the ground, but Kemoeng was optimistic that it would be completed by today. The regressing was delayed after the company that was hired abandoned the project along the way. Briefing journalists after touring the venue, Kemoeng said his council takes full responsibility for what has happened and appealed to the media not to blame the Botswana Football Association (BFA) for the state of affairs. The stadium re-grassing was supposed to be finished by the end of last month but that has not been possible. Kemoeng said the Kikuyu Instant Lawn Pty Ltd contractors dumped the job because they could not agree on some things with BNSC. BNSC had also appointed a management team that was to serve as the middleman between them and the contractor since BNSC did not have technical expertise on grassing.
According to Kemoeng, along the way, the management company was not satisfied with the way the contractor did some of the things. It is said the contractor wanted to lay the grass though it had not conducted any soil tests. The management company took the matter up with the council and upon confrontation, the contractor asked the BNSC to drop the management company and deal with them directly. When that could not happen, the contractor opted to leave the job on April 29. Kemoeng said they started smelling a rat in the middle of March when the contractor was constantly unavailable on site. Despite the fact that he kept promising that the job would be complete on the agreed time, Kemoeng said. Kemoeng would not say if they will take any legal action against Kikuyu Pty Ltd but said the matter was still on the table. After consultation, a South African company, Evergreen Turf Pty Ltd, was engaged to continue with the job and was expected to have completed re-grassing by last Wednesday. Kemoeng said that, that was not possible as they were a lot of challenges. The grass is transported from South Africa and this takes time, as a permit has to be applied for before the grass is transported here. Worse still, the grass cannot be brought here in bulk as it may dry before it is used. Kemoeng regretted that though money for upgrading of both the UB, National and SSKB stadiums was released on time, things could not go as planned. He said the upgrading of the stadia came as an initiative to attract countries that will be taking part in the Confederations Cup as well as the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
