The Government has partnered with Sakunda Holdings to upgrade the National Sports Stadium (NSS) so that it meets the required standards to host international matches.
The Herald reported that the two parties are finalising a Memorandum of Understanding which they are expected to sign in the coming few days.
Preliminary feasibility studies for the upgrading of the National Sports Stadium and the adjacent hockey court are underway.
Moreover, a delegation of technocrats from the Government has accompanied Sakunda Holdings staff to Europe for benchmarking.
The delegation comprises two officials from the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, namely Sport and Recreation director Eugenia Chidhakwa and lawyer Evelyn Mutsvangwa as well as three from the Ministry of Local Government – engineers Lovemore Muzhanje, Chenjerai Bwerinofa and Nicholas Mutangu.
The delegation has since toured the Real Betis High-Performance centre and the Olympic Stadium in Sevilla, Spain and they were expected to visit Camp Nou in Barcelona on Thursday.
They are also expected to tour the Bernabeu which is the home of Real Madrid before going to the Allianz Stadium this weekend.
Speaking to The Herald from Spain on Thursday, Chidhakwa said:
The main reason for this tour is for us to learn from the best on how we will be able to renovate various stadiums in Zimbabwe and also how we can take the sport into a viable business entity.
For the first three days that we have been in Seville, we visited the Real Betis stadium and we have also toured their high-performance centre.
They are also in the process of refurbishing their standards to expand their Stadium and we have realised that the way they erected their bucket seats is also the same way we are planning to get ours done at the National Sports Stadium.
Sakunda Holdings project manager and coordinator Nqobile Magwizi said his company committed to upgrading NSS to ensure that it meets the FIFA requirements.
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