ADDIS ABABA – New modern stadium has been under construction in West Shewa Ambo town, some 110 kilo meters away on the western side of the country from the capital Addis Ababa.
The construction of the stadium takes place at the Ambo University Engineering campus on 25, 000 square metres of land, according to the site manager Engineer Alsam Fromsa.
“This is a big project with an estimated cost of 359 million Birr. Construction has begun in November 2017 and expected to be completed in the year 2020,”the engineer said.
The engineer didn’t hide the fact that delay was observed in the wake of the construction period due to the financial and material shortages. The fund was not released on time, according to him.
“We have the experience of building mediums and large size stadiums in different parts of the country. We constructed the big Gambella stadium. We also constructed the Jima University stadium. We believe that we got sufficient experience from these constructions. Taking that lesson from the past, we are now constructing the Ambo University stadium keeping the FIFA standard.
“That is we intend to have international matches in Ambo when this stadium is completed in the coming one year,” Abnet Fita, said representing the company that constructs the stadium.
Abnet is confident that the new stadium will be ready as per the time table of the project. “The hurdles are now resolved with the cooperation of the concerned offices. We are in fact encouraged to complete the project ahead of the schedule. We are doing it with that in mind. Over 50 percent of the construction is completed this time,” he added.
Concerning the details of the project, the site manager has this to say: There will be 210 shops around the stadium, rooms for coffee and tea, restaurant and recreational centres are included in the project. Like any stadium constructed to meet the FIFA standard, the project contains small, average and big meeting halls, library, bars for officials that serve during break, gates and rest rooms for the disabled men and women and office of the federation.
That is why, we boldly say, the stadium will host international games when completed, he remarked. If the past is any guide, Ambo didn’t have big stadium that is capable of hosting the elite games. When Muger Cement were in the Ethiopian Premier League 10 or so years ago, in most cases they had their home games at Arsi stadium.
The people in Ambo were expressing deep anger for not having standard home pitch in Ambo at that time. The now defunct Muger were real contender in the league representing Oromia region.
Mugger also had strong athletics team at the time. The legendary athlete Kenenisa Bekele belonged to Muger side. The national head coach Tolosa Kotu who managed Muger at the time brought athletes like Tesfaye and Gezahegn Abera to prominence during the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
The country has never registered Olympic marathon victory after Gezahegn won 19 years ago. This shows that Ambo must encourage reinstating the side like Muger Cement athletics squad.
A club that produced such talented athletes didn’t have their own international standard track at home. Besides the benefit that it provides to the sports community, the construction has already provided opportunities for the small and medium size construction enterprises.
“Unemployment is rampant in and around Ambo. When huge construction project start, job is secured. When that project is completed, it will also become another source of employment. Completing this kind of project is, therefore, useful to open up new employment opportunities for the unemployed Ambo youth,” Abnet concluded.
The Ethiopian Herald March 5, 2019
BY TESHOME KEDIDA
