Planarchitects Consultants and T. T. Ustay Developers Limited, consultants and contractors, respectively, undertaking the 800,000-dollar "Ghanaman Soccer School of Excellence" at Prampram are sure of completing the first phase of the project by December. They said the only thing that could prolong the completion date would be the non-availability of funds. But once they have the assurance of FIFA, the main financiers, they were sure of fulfilling their side of the deal.

The assurance came when Mr Sampon Kablan, Development Officer of FIFA Goal Project in Charge of West Africa, officials of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, MP for Prampram and chiefs from the area visited the project site on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and FIFA, the world football governing body, signed an 800,000-dollar contract giving the go ahead to the "Ghanaman Soccer School of Excellence" project.

The government is contributing 226,000 dollars in the form of existing structures with the GFA providing 174,000 dollars in addiction to the FIFA Goal Project fund of 400,000 dollars.

Mr Adjetey, the Consultant working on the project, said the project started five years ago when the government acquired a 40-hectare site for a Centre for Sports Excellence to train athletes from all sporting disciplines in the country. He said after the construction of the first structure, which included hostel facilities and offices; funds dried up bringing the entire project to a halt.

Mr Adjetey said the project had to be remodelled to suit the demands of the GFA and FIFA, since it was going to be used for only football. The first phase of the project would involve two playing fields and a main two-storey hostel and office complex.

The ground floor would be taken up by facilities like a cafeteria with a kitchen, an auditorium, a gymnasium, a clinic, offices, library, a place to serve as forum for coaches, offices and stores whiles the first and second floors would be 40 self-contained bedrooms.

He said the GFA the new owners of the facility and the FIFA development officer would only play an inspecting role during the construction to give their approval for the job done, as funds would be released directly from FIFA to the consultant and contractor working on the project.

Mr Mensah, former Minister for Youth and Sports, under whose administration the project started said the dream of the project was to build a world class facility that would attract big teams from Europe to use the place for their pre-season camping for a fee.

He tasked the GFA to run the facility on commercial basis since it could be self-financing when the right management was put in place.