THE hand-over of the US$65 million Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola by the Chinese to the Zambian Government was yesterday deferred to a later date.
And as it became apparent that there would be no hand-over ceremony, journalists from the public and private media were barred from interviewing Chinese vice-foreign minister, Zhai Jun.
Having earlier been assured of interviewing Zhai when he arrived at the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport in Ndola, journalists were blocked from entering a stadium conference room after a tour of the $65 million structure.
Protocol officers from both the Zambian and Chinese governments said Zhai’s visit of the 40,280-capacity stadium was private and that he could therefore not be interviewed.
Zhai was accompanied by Copperbelt Minister, John Kufuna, Permanent Secretary Christopher Mutembo and other senior Government, political and civic leaders during the tour of the stadium.
As as if taking advantage, former construction workers besieged the site in an effort to seek audience with Government officials about their terminal benefits but were kept at bay by police officers.
Recently, Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Minister, Yamfwa Mukanga said Government would soon send a team of experts for a thorough inspection of the stadium before commissioning.
[Times of Zambia]
Looks good. A pretty inspiring opportunity to aid the development of young athletes. I want to run on that track :)
I HOPE ALL IS OKAY. WE DON’T WANT TO HAVE A CRUSH THE FIRST TIME ZAMBIANS ENTER THE NEW STADIUM AND LOSE A LOT OF LIVE. ENSURE THAT ITS ALL FIT AND SAFE FOR ZAMBIANS. IFYAMA CHINESE TAFYAKOSA. IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL.
it’s a good move, but we need another one to be complited in lusaka.
What is the main reason for not handing over?  The asset should be used otherwise there will be no return on “investment”.Â
I hope we shall soon be able to host the Africa cup of nations.
We can do more
Its a shame that Zambian Government could not afford to build a good stadium
since 1964, all countries in SADC have good stadiums built in 1980’s.
Ndola? Too far for me….
Just rebuild indipondo and make sure you don´t get rid of that ´Lupili´ Hill as it used to be my favourite during the 90´s.
Nice stadium though.
plz LT get rid of my e-mail above
@7 and 8 how do you expect Lusaka Times to remove you e-mail address when you have captioned it under the name space? So if your blog name is also your e-mail address, am afraid there’s nothing much LT can do to help.
Dont go and write on seats that DRAKSON or IREAN was here pleaseeeeeeeeeee!
Dont go and shit on the walls, hope they are good toilets unlike Nkana stadium poor toilets.
Please build a bridge over the dual carriage in anticipation of increased traffic. Do not wait till late. There must be two double lane bridges constructed over the dual carriage way and as they will help to stop congestion of traffic during crucial games.
imwe chisuleni ichibansa abantu balesefya
this stadium is exactly the same as the one we have at our university and pretty much the same as at all the chinese universities. It looks good though. Next time around call the germans to come and construct a football stadium. we need things that will last for generations.
endesheni ukwisula ichibansa ba monk
There Government should consider to build another stadium in Kitwe soon.Kitwe is such a big city with a large population and is centrally located and the football fans from N/W,Luapula and other CB Towns cannot have problems connecting to Kitwe.There is enough land particularly on the Kitwe / Chingola high way immediately after the Mopani Waste Dumps that area is ideal.Not near the Mulenga slums adjacent to SOS that place is notorious vandals.See what happened to perimetre steel fence of the SOS Village.