The ongoing renovation of Embu Stadium is on course in readiness to host this year’s Madaraka Day Celebrations, the project undertakers have assured.
The refurbishment work is being carried out by Modern Precast K. Ltd. under the supervision of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) at a cost of Sh300 million.
KDF Deputy Commander Construction Engineer, Colonel Maurice Owende, speaking on during an inspection tour, said the work was on schedule towards delivery of the stadium by mid-May.
He said most of the foundation work on the main pavilion and public terraces had been done and the structures are expected to be complete by end of April. “We have no choice, the stadium has to be ready because Madaraka Day is a date cast in stone,” Owende said.
He also said work of levelling the pitch including backfilling of red soil to be followed by grass planting had also commenced.
He said with production of materials done using the new precast concrete technology where beams and benches were being made and cured elsewhere and only shipped to the site for installation had saved on time that would have been taken if done on-site.
The contractor, Chandreshbhai Babariya, said they had already done 90 percent of production and the technology had reduced time that would have been spent using the traditional method by 60-70 percent.
Embu CEC in charge of Lands, Mining, Physical Planning, Housing and Urban Development, Raymond Kinyua, said they were satisfied with the progress and confident that the stadium will be complete on time to give to give KDF time and space to practice ahead of the national celebrations.
“We have given the contractor up to May 15 to give the military adequate time to do their drills,” he said. He said once complete, the stadium will have a sitting capacity of 8,700 with the main pavilion for dignitaries having a capacity to hold 1,700 people.
He however said with proper utilisation of the remaining open spaces, the stadium has a capacity of holding more people.
By Samuel Waititu
