Construction of the Sh900 million Wajir Stadium has officially begun with leaders expressing confidence that the facility will be completed on time to host this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations on June 1.
The county security team, led by county commissioner Karuku Ngumo, on Tuesday inspected works at the 10,000-seater stadium in Wajir town.
The project was announced on February 12 by President William Ruto when he toured the county to disburse NYOTA startup capital to youth. He said the stadium is expected to host this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations.
After touring the site, Ngumo said the works were progressing as planned and that the contractor had committed to meeting — and even beating — the deadline.
“According to the works that we have seen so far, I think we are on course and the contractor has assured us that he’s going to beat the deadline,” Ngumo told journalists after the inspection.
He acknowledged a challenge related to electricity supply, saying authorities were working to resolve it.
Officials are awaiting the installation of a transformer from Kenya Power, a matter Ngumo said would be escalated to the company’s headquarters to hasten the process.
“The rest of the other issues are matters that will be handled by the county security committee and I’m sure that by the end of May we are going to have a stadium,” he said.
Ngumo said the facility will open up Wajir to national and international sporting events, describing it as a significant economic boost for the county.
“We’re expecting to host national and international games in Wajir, and that means this is going to be a big boost to the economy of this county and Wajir town in particular,” he said.
Project engineer Dennis Oloo also briefed officials and members of the media, assuring them that construction was being carried out in line with approved designs and contractual standards.
Aware of the perennial power challenges facing the town, Oloo said mitigation measures were already in place, including a 220kVA generator on site.
“In regard to the quality of work that you expect here, you expect top-notch quality work. As per the designs and the specifications. We anticipate to finish ahead of even that schedule because of the measures that we put in place. We have mitigated the risk of power losses,” he said.
He said a robust quality assurance team was on the ground, including consultants from the Kenya Defence Forces.
“At the peak of this, we anticipate having over 1,000 workers on a daily basis. And this is a project that is going to run for 24 hours and we expect to have three shifts in a day,” Oloo said.
