LUGOGO STADIUM

Dec 26, 2002

KAMPALA City Council Football Club’s two-decade dream of having a home stadium at Lugogo is about to crystallise.

BY JAMES BAKAMA
AND ROBERT BUKENYA

KAMPALA City Council Football Club’s two-decade dream of having a home stadium at Lugogo is about to crystallise.
A multinational supermarkets group Shoprite Checkers, that was last month allocated 2.5 hectares of the Lugogo grounds, will finance the proposed facility.
Shoprite agreed to a condition of including a stadium in their $13m (sh23.9bn) project that has construction of a supermarket as its main aspect.
Since its formation in the late 1960s, KCC FC has been using Nakivubo and later Namboole stadia as its homegrounds. But, while KCC FC wants a 35,000 seater stadium, Shoprite has budgeted to redevelop two playing fields into modern stadia with capacities of 1,000 each.
The Shoprite plan, approved by the city council last month, allots sh600m to the stadia. Besides being fenced, they will also be equipped with modern gymnasiums, changing rooms, toilets, pavilion and floodlights.
KCC FC secretary Gideon Karyoko said they will present their plan of a single but bigger stadium to the investers. The meeting is scheduled before the ground breaking of the 18-months project in January 2003.
The Lugogo supermarket will be Shoprite’s biggest project in Uganda. The South African firm currently has an outlet on Ben Kiwanuka street. The Lugogo plan includes a 400-car parking yard.
Lugogo, on the eastern outskirts of the city, has with its seven fields and nearby indoor stadium, the biggest sports area in Uganda.
KCC also surrendered yet another field to Kampala Institute as compensation for another plot in the city on which it encroached.
Besides KCC, the Lugogo fields are also bases of several other teams. One of the grounds was recently developed into the home ground of MTN Heathens rugby football club.
They have also, because of their free access, been the breeding ground of numerous talents. Soccer legend Phillip Omondi, Moses Nsereko and Magid Musisi are some of the stars who learnt soccer at Lugogo.
Local government minister Bidandi Ssali objected to the project arguing that it would be a blow to recreation. It took a parliamentary sub committee headed by the Prime Minister Apollo Nsibambi to approve it. Ends

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