Work on Lilongwe stadium on shedule

Construction of Malawi’s national stadium in Lilongwe is on track with 75 percent of the structural foundation work complete.

The 40 000-seater stadium, which will cost an estimated $70 million (K28 billion) is within schedule to be ready for use in December 2015.

A visit to the site by The Nation yesterday established that much of groundwork has been done in four months.

“The stadium is demarcated in four sections. So far, there is much progress on section one, which comprises the VVIP partition, dressing, athletes, referees and coaches’ rooms, among others. It is also the beginning of the ordinary stands.

“Sections two and four are for ordinary stands and hold the 11-metre deep roof anchor foundation, whose canopy will cover 80 percent of the entire stadium’s stands. Section three is for stands as well,” explained Xia Fang, contractors Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group vice-president and project manager.

He said construction works will continue even during the rainy season.

“Much of the foundation is done and the remaining part will be done before the rains. But that does not mean we will stop the construction work. There is no holiday in construction,” he said.

The highest point of the stadium is on the middle of each canopy which is about the height of a 20-storey building.

While the project is within schedule, it is facing intermittent water supply challenges and inaccessibility of sand.

“There are a few people interested in the business of supplying sand to the project. Good sand is found in Salima where we have been mining, but we are still failing to meet the demand,” said Xia.

Chief architect in the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Knight Munthali, expressed contentment with the progress made so far.

“We are happy with the construction works. We are constantly working with the contractors, making sure that we are updated on progress being made,” said Munthali.