Mills receives report on proposed Olympic Stadium

Accra (Greater Accra), 24 Feb. '99 -

A team which conducted studies into the construction of an Olympic Stadium Complex for Ghana on Tuesday submitted its findings to Vice- President John Atta Mills, saying the project is feasible. The Philips Multi-Disciplinary team led by Mr Ben Veenbrinh, project manager of Philips Engineering, has completed initial feasibility studies of the proposal and is proceeding to the next and crucial stage which involves finance sourcing.

Provisional cost of the multi-purpose hall complex with 80,000 seating-capacity is put at 100 million dollars. It is to be sited off the Accra-Tema motorway, near Nungua in Accra. Mr Veenbrinh said the team has been to some major countries in Africa, Europe and Asia to tap experience and explore various sources of funding for the project. The ideal situation is to tap at least 80 per cent of the money from the international market after which design for the financial structure will be submitted to the International Monetary Fund for approval. Mr Veenbrinh said "We think it is feasible. It is realistic," adding that it demands a phased approach due to its complexity.

Mr Paul Smilde, financial engineer, spoke about plans to put management of the complex in the hands of Ghanaians. He said management would have to embark on aggressive marketing world-wide to attract activities to the complex in order to generate revenue to pay for the cost. Vice-President Mills congratulated the team for completing the initial studies, saying the project is very important to government. He said it is the aim of government to proceed with it systematically "so that at the end of the day we can all be proud."