George Mireku Duker, Member of Parliament (MP) for Tarkwa Nsuaem, has also inspected works on the reconstruction of the Tarkwa and Abosso Park (T&A Part), which is about 80 percent complete.
Expecting the work to be completed in December, this year, he added that the project was behind schedule and needed to speed up before the commissioning date could be announced.
Funded by Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) at the cost of $16.2 million, and works being executed by Michetti & Co. Ltd included a VVIP stand, general stands for spectators and officials, parking lots, an ambulance bay, LOC office, dressing rooms, offices for coaches and referees, a media centre, and a commentary box.
Other facilities are flood lights, physiotherapy and first aid office, office for match commissioners and referees, and a kits store.
The Project Manager of Gold Fields Ghana Limited, Roger Adama, revealed this last Friday, when Mr. George Mireku Duker visited the site to assess progress of work and also encourage the contractors to complete it on time.
He explained that outstanding works were the VVIP car park, grassing and maturing of the pitch and quality assurance, and so “we are careful not to rush into commissioning.”
Mr. Adama assured that the project was on course and that so far, Micheletti had done a good job.
He added that despite some changes in the scope “we are speeding up work, and hopefully, the project would be completed on schedule, by December, this year.”
He told Mr. Duker that initial works delayed due to extra work to stabilise the muddy ground condition and the fabrication of steel frames which had to be imported from Vietnam, coupled with the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the weather conditions in the Tarkwa enclave.
Mr. Adama said: “We went almost six meters and over in some places; had to import rocks to fill them. Fortunately, because of the mines we had a lot of rocks. Surely, [the] budgets really ballooned, as we had to backfill and do compacting, and also ensure that we test the soil very well, and these tests are being done by our professionals, deeply involved when it comes to quality control and quality assurance.”
Responding, Mr. Duker, who is also the Deputy Minister, Lands and Natural Resources, recalled the role he played to lobby Gold Fields for the reconstruction of the stadium park in 2008, when he was the Chief Executive for the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality.
Gold Fields, he said, accepted the challenge renovate the park and build a stadium for Tarkwa, but unfortunately, his tenure ended.
Again, in 2017, Mr. Duker said, despite some opposition, “I stood on my grounds to indicate that if you go to areas where they have developed infrastructure, they have what they call community parks.”
He, therefore, wondered why some political figures appeared not to be enthused to acknowledge his roles, stressing that “reconstruction of T&A Park is about Mireku Duker.”
“So a committee was constituted to make sure we have a well- designed and preferable stadium, and after year of presentation and scrutiny, they did the due diligence. I was overwhelmed and excited about the decision by Gold Fields accepting the designs,” the MP stated.
