Azumah Nelson Sports Complex to be redesigned
The Ministry of Youth and Sports is considering reconstructing the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex which is in ruins and outlived its usefulness after its construction four decades ago.
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Built in 1978 as a training facility for teams at the Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Ghana, the complex, named after Ghana’s sport icon and world boxing legend Azumah Nelson, is currently in ruins while portions of it are overgrown with weeds.
On a tour of some sporting facilities in the country yesterday, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Isaac Asiamah, told the media that he was studying proposals to redesign the sports complex estimated at $4 million.
A special aide to the minister and a former CEO of the National Sports Authority, Dr Emmnanuel Owusu-Ansah, disclosed that the new design was ready and would accommodate football, volleyball, handball, basketball, swimming and tennis facilities when ready.
Mr Asiamah indicated that he would carefully study the plan and make proposals for its immediate implementation.
During the tour of the Azumah Nelson Sports Complex, the minister was shocked at the level of ruins and ordered e, the Deputy Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA) Mr Saka Acquaye and the CEO of the National Youth Authority, Mr Emmanuel Asigri, to submit a report on the degree of dilapidation on a three-storey building at the complex constructed four decades ago.
Mr Asiamah said he would instruct the chief director to form a structural integrity analysis team on the building to see how best the dilapidated building could be renovated.
The minister also revealed that his outfit would construct three community parks this year as part of the first phase of the government’s pledge to construct decent parks across the country.
According to him, a model had been developed for the take-off of the project, noting that all sporting associations must come on board for the effective take-off of the project.
He bemoaned the non-existence of such parks in the country and stressed that his outfit would do all it could to make the model parks a reality.
Mr Asiamah also disclosed that the remaining five regions of the country would have sports stadia, adding that a rigorous maintenance regime would be instituted to forestall any decaying, corrosion and rusting of any of the facilities.