China-funded Bingu stadium inauguration December 10

It is official and can as well be described as ‘a long walk to freedom’ in as far as football in Malawi is concerned. The waiting is now over as the authorities have confirmed the opening of  the multi-million dollar State-of-the-Art Chinese built Bingu National Stadium located in the capital City Lilongwe.

Stadium Manager Eric Ning’ang’a confirmed that all arrangements have been made to have the facility opened on 10 December 2016.

Ning’ang’a said this follows a meeting he alongside other Directors had with the Principal Secretary (P.S) responsible where they were asked if the stadium is now ready for opening after a long delay due to some shortfalls.

The Stadium Manager revealed that he assured the P.S that the strides have been made and that the stadium is now ready based on what they have on the ground so far.

Some of the serious issues that caused the delay were installation of an MTL Cable for communication purposes, a sewer drainage and electricity cables.

But while announcing the good news on Friday, Ning’ang’a said electricians have worked hard on the electricity part while MTL is also ready to install its cable to enable communication at the stadium before the said date.

He also said engineers, designers and City Council officials have collaborated well to make sure the sewer is working.

According to Ning’ang’a, electricity for lighting are available only that flood lights cannot work which is not a cause for worry since the facility will only be used in the afternoon at the mean time.

At first, it was reported that the inaugural football match will be between Malawi national team and China but it is not known whether this will come to pass.

But the stadium has been earmarked for the local match involving two local giants and old age rivals Mighty Be Forward Wanderers and Nyasa Big Bullets.

The two are reported to tussle at the stadium in the second leg of a soccer bonanza dubbed ‘Bus Ipite soccer Fiesta’ being organized by Luso Television with assistance from the Football Association of Malawi (FAM).

The winner is expected to walk away with a 26 seater Nissan Caravan Bus worth K25 Million.

Bingu Stadium is one of the beautiful and biggest infrastructures developments Malawi can cherish from the government of China after the New Parliament Building and Five Star Hotel located in City Centre Lilongwe.

The state-of-the-art stadium  has been  constructed by a Chinese contractor to the tune of 70 million U.S. dollars, a concessional loan to be paid back by Malawi government in 20 years.

Among other facilities are the 56 lounges where families and sponsor groups will have the luxury of watching live events in private.

It also has a press gallery, a gym and Olympic standard synthetic running track around the pitch, and the playing field is covered with special drought-resistant grass imported from South Africa.

Malawi government  named the stadium Bingu National Stadium in honour of Malawi’s former president Bingu Mutharika who initiated the project with the Chinese government.

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