Concerns on Ghana's preparations for CAN 2008

Accra, Nov 19, GNA - The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has raised four major concerns on Ghana's preparations towards the hosting of Africa Cup of Nations in 2008 after it embarked on its fourth inspection exercise last week.

Mr Slim Aloulou leader of the four member delegation, which conducted the inspection expressed concern about the nature of training pitches, TV production, the rate of work on the hostel facilities at Tamale and access roads to the various stadia for the competition.

Addressing the press in Accra after the inspection, which took them to all the four stadia allocated for the hosting of the competition and other facilities, Mr Aloulou said, though his team could not see the training pitches physically and only saw it on video, it was of the view that the pitches were not quality enough and up to the standard for the competition.

According to him, the competition has attained international recognition therefore participating teams will require quality pitches to play on, adding that what they had seen was below the required standard.

He said the present training pitches would not be acceptable, hence the need for improvement.

On accommodation facilities at Tamale, Mr Aloulou noted that the rate of work on the three star hostel facility at Tamale was not encouraging and it was imperative to speed up work on it for early completion.

"Without this there will be no competition," the CAF official stated.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports is currently constructing a hostel facility at Tamale to serve the accommodation needs of participants for the CAN 2008. This is as a result of inadequate accommodation facilities in the metropolis.

Mr Aloulou also raised concerns about the access roads to the various stadia for the competition, which he described as inadequate. He said there was the need for more roads leading to the various stadia to make it easy for the fans to get to the venue of matches without hindrance.
The CAF officials also stressed the need for high class television coverage and expressed worry about the capability of the national television station Ghana Television (GTV) to provide the required standard of coverage.
Mr Aloulou said CAF would however not interfere in this area since they have had prior discussions with GTV and hope the necessary measures would be taken to ensure a perfect coverage of the event.
He said CAF was only seeking for a television coverage, which would meet international standard since the competition has attained an international status.
The CAF delegate however expressed satisfaction with the level of work on the four stadia outlined for the competition and expressed the hope that work will be completed as scheduled.
In response, Mr Kofi Amoah chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of Ghana 2008 said his outfit had taken note of the concerns raised by CAF and would work hard to meet their expectations. He said issues that fell under budgetary considerations had been laid before the government and they had received firm assurances that they would be dealt with, adding that those that fell under planning would also be given due attention.
Mr Amoah announced that plans were in place to get a foreign company to team up with GTV to boost the production and coverage of the event. He added that, the intervention of the company would also ensure the transfer of knowledge to their Ghanaian counterparts.
The LOC chairman assured the CAF delegation that his outfit would heed to their reservations and provide all that was needed for a successful competition.