Turkish investors pull out of deal to redevelop Kakyeka stadium
After months of hopes and speculation that Kakyeka Stadium would be developed into a modern facility, the Mbarara district chairman Capt.JB Tumusiime Bamuturaki has disclosed sad and shocking news that the Turkey investors who had picked interest in financing the development of the facility have backed out of the deal.
Tumusiime told New Vision that the Ministry of Sports had approached the district with interest to develop Kakyeka stadium through Turkey investors who later withdrew their interest. He said this affected their plans.
"It was good news to us as Mbarara district when the Ministry of Sports approached us with interest to develop Kakyeka. They wanted to develop it through people from Turkey. The Turks later withdrew their interest under the reasons we don't know and this has affected our plans because we need Kakyeka stadium developed as our city stadium," Tumusiime lamented.
He said they are now faced with a big challenge to go back to the drawing board. He said that with the new amenities, they are now looking for about shs20b to put the stadium at an advanced level.
"We need swimming pools, running tracks, a seating pavilion, which can seat more than 20,000 people, permanent fencing, and arcades around it," Tumusiime added.
He encouraged public-private partnerships to take on the project. Mbarara is a regional sport, business, tourist centre and developing Kakyeka Stadium will bring development, Mbarara Municipality Mayor Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi stated.
The Stadium is known for hosting several big events including regional and National Trade shows among others.
Because of the poor state, it has at times failed to host some of the sports activities like the Uganda Premier League.
Donozio Kibanda, a sports fan in Mbarara challenged the government to urgently take on the project saying the facility once developed will largely increase revenue collection especially for Mbarara city through sports and business as well as improving the image of Mbarara and the entire region.