Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has branded the reconstructed Nakivubo Stadium a 19th Century Football Pitch, further referring it to a ‘stunted tennis court.’
Lukwago has been a big critic of Nakivubo stadium construction from day one, and earlier claimed that businessman Ham Kiggundu who is handling the project got the deal very suspiciously.
The stadium reconstruction was projected to be finished in five years since it’s start in 2017, and it has since drawn huge criticism because of the delay.
“As a Football Lover, I feel terribly insulted everytime I get tagged into praise singers’ gibberish about this stunted Tennis Court, formerly the monumental Nakivubo war memorial stadium,” said the vocal Lord Mayor Lukwago.
“This is a 19th century football pitch compared to the African state of the art stadiums like Abdullaye Wade stadium in Senegal, Mamelodi Sundowns’ Mossape stadium in South Africa etc.”
In his defence, Kiggundu has always blamed the delays on Covid-19 and increase of prices of the Construction material, which he says that it has affected the initial budget.
Lukwago added: “It’s equally an insult to the intellect of Ugandans for one to claim that construction of this 3-minute-walk Ham business complex (read stadium) will cost US$200BN (close to UgX 8Trillion), moreover on land acquired gratis.
“It’s highly probable that even Lawrence Mulindwa’s Kitende Stadium will, in not so distant future, surpass the standard of the Ham mall enclosed play ground.”
The Stadium has been surrounded by malls, a move that has seen the actual stadium’s affected.
Despite Kiggundu’s claims that Nakivubo, when finished, will be a World Class Stadium in the heart of Kampala, Lukwago says that it doesn’t meet the required standards.
“Maybe it’s intended to host localized Inter-arcade tournaments as opposed to National League or International or CAF competitions.”
Initially, the 35000-seater stadium was to have an Arena for games like Basketball, volley ball and tennis courts, boxing and gym facilities, roof pavilion, health club and others.
