Govt. can’t manage sports facilities, says Dalung

Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, on Tuesday, said that government would go ahead with the concession of sports facilities, stressing that it was difficult to manage them because of the budgetary allocation.

Dalung said this to State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.

He maintained that there was under utilisation of sports facilities.

Said  he, “I agree that there is under utilisation of sports facilities in Abuja. That has taken us to the issue of concession. The facilities can’t be managed effectively by government looking at the budgetary allocation for even the maintenance.

“Government can’t maintain those things So what we intend to do is to proceed with the concession process which we met on ground”, he said.

According to him, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had in 2012 approved concession of Abuja and Lagos stadia, saying that government had taken further step by appointing consultants.

He explained that the process was at the stage of securing the approval of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) after which there would be call for bids and the engagement of the private sector

In addition, Dalung said government had also received the drawing on the proposed ‎transformation of two stadia which would  include the creation of artificial lake in the Abuja stadium that would provide for 12 water sports;

He added that there would also be the construction of the five-star hotels in Abuja and Lagos while the adjourning land would  have a park.

“The moment you put these two, the economic status of the stadium will be uplifted and you will have ‎foreign athletes coming in because there will be facilities. That’s the best way we can maximise stadium in Abuja in view of how it was located”, Dalung said.