Construction work at Kipchoge Keino Stadium stalls once again despite Sh3.5b budget

Kipchoge Keino Stadium which is set to be brought down following poor workmanship in Eldoret Uasin Gishu County. January 12, 2025. [Peter Ochieng, Standard] The construction of the historic Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, which has been under construction for over a decade, has once again stalled. It is among stadiums that are being upgraded to international standards ahead of the 2027 African Cup of Nations. The last major event to have been staged at the stadium named after Kenya's father of track racing, 1968 Olympic 1500m champion Kipchoge Keino, was the national trials for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Since then, completion dates have been shifted forward and hundreds of visits by government officials are yet to restore Kipchoge Keino Stadium's former glory. The government has set aside Sh3.5 billion for completion of Kipchoge Keino Stadium after one year of stalling. Although dilapidated and incomplete, the country's world beaters in athletics have been using it for their training as they tune up their speeds and endurance. The worn out Mondo prefabricated track is yet to be retired but has not stopped Kenyan big shots from stomping as they perfect their speeds. For athletes, their coaches and enthusiasts at the City of Champions, a stalling Kipchoge Stadium and frequent visits by top government brass, is the norm. On Friday, the National Assembly Committee on Sports appeared thunderstruck and angry at the latest stalling. The parliamentary team was welcomed by a site that had been abandoned by the contractor for months and no progress that was nothing to write home about. The National Assembly Sports Committee chairman Dan Wanyama said his team was disappointed by the slow progress. The Mondo tartan, one of the best qualities in the world, for instance, was installed in 2010. It was also in 2010 that the late President Mwai Kibaki ordered a facelift of the North Rifts biggest stadium, and it has not reached completion for the last 15 years. Former Sports Cabinet Secretaries Hassan Wario (2013-2018), Rashid Echesa (2018-2019), Amina Mohamed (2019-2022) and Ababu Namwamba (2022-2024) and their entourage were frequent visitors of stalled stadium and all expressed displeasure with the progress despite being at the helm of the ministry responsible for completion of the facility. Wanyama, a former volleyball international and captain, and his team gave the Sports Kenya and the Ministry of Sports seven days to provide documents on payments paid for the Kipchoge Keino facelift since the upgrade started. The committee expressed shock with the absence of the Chinese contractor on site, and explanations by Sports Kenya officers at the site that the single-sourced construction company was demanding Sh300 million. The Dan Wanyama-led committee maintained that it was strange for a single-sourced contractor to demand money, yet it had shown capacity to begin work without deposits. On January 10, President William Ruto alongside Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya inspected the stadium and the new contractor, Synohydro Corporation, was instructed to immediately begin work. "We are disappointed because the works on the site are not in tandem with what we have been told. We had been assured that we would find the contractor on site. That gives us a reasonable doubt and that we should be hands on," Wanyama said. The committee said the contractor, who is not on site yet, had promised to complete the stalled stadium in 15 months. "The ministry has promised to make a down payment next week and, then, we might realize some progress," the chairman said. He went on to say: "We have summoned the ministry to appear before us and explain the progress." The government had in late 2023 handed over the site to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), which did not commence construction but it has emerged that the military has now been charged with supervising the project. Sections of the Kipchoge Keino Stadium have been earmarked for demolition. The National Assembly Committee was told on site that the previous contract was terminated at a cost, which was not disclosed.

Construction work at Kipchoge Keino Stadium stalls once again despite Sh3.5b budget

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