The President of The Gambia Football Federation (GFF), Mr. Lamin Kaba Bajo, yesterday led a delegation of Executive Committee members and key staff to tour three Mini Stadiums within the Greater Banjul Area that have benefited from the Federation’s Stadium upgrading projects. The delegation visited Stadiums in Bakau, Manjai and later Serrekunda West.
These three Stadiums will have their football pitches redone and the erection of a durable perimeter fence that has a minimum lifespan of 10 years as well as increase in the capacity of their borehole tanks for sustainable water supply. These projects are expected to kick off in January and as a result, Serrekunda West will be closed with immediate effect while Manjai will continue to host matches until January. The work is expected to be finished between three and four months after which matches are to be played in the said venues. The Federation will then begin work at Brikama and Banjul in April and June while Serrekunda East would be done in October so as not to affect their annual Nawettan.
Speaking to the GFF in house medium at the end of the tour, Mr. Ebou Faye the Second Vice President and the Coordinator of the Stadiums’ upgrading projects said among the three grounds visited, only Manjai can be used for league matches at the moment. “Bakau isn’t ready and [Serrekunda] West is not in good shape so we have to close West. [Therefore], our impression is that there’s work that needs to be done on all the grounds,” Mr. Faye, who is also the Head of GFF Competitions said.
“Again there will be challenges in terms of venues for our matches this year also. Manjai and Serrekunda West were closed last year and this time we will use Manjai until January and then it will be closed for the works but Serrekunda West will again be closed because it’s not a playable ground. We will have to manage without West and squeeze ourselves in other grounds and the Stadium for now.”
Mr. Faye further stressed that Banjul and Brikama are not in perfect conditions and they too need maintenance, noting that Banjul will have its turf replaced with a new one to be installed. “We’ve been working on that and that’s why we pushed it towards April and if that isn’t possible then maybe we’ll have to rehabilitate all the artificial turfs. We want to use a certain type of perimeter fence that is sustainable in all the grounds and standardise them and also do the grounds so that we’ll have very good grounds around the country,” he affirmed.
The delegation also included Mr, Sadibou Kamaso, an Executive Committee Member; Mr. Lamin Jassey the General Secretary; Mr. Sang Ndong the Technical Director and Mr. Baboucarr Camara the Director of Marketing and Communications. Mr. Baboucarr Jobe the Competitions Manager and Mr. Mafugie Jatta the Competitions Assistant for Logistics were also part of the delegation. The delegation was received by the Executive Committee members of the three grounds. The tour will resume at a later date with visits to Brikama, Banjul and Serrekunda East.
