Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, is adamant Ghana will be ready to host the 2023 Africa games despite what appears to be a race against time to finish work on hosting facilities.

With less than a year to the games, work on major infrastructure seem a long way from completion. The Borteyman Sports Complex, which will host 21 of the 23 approved sporting disciplines, is still at the foundation stage of construction.

The Dr Hilla Limann Hall at the University of Ghana, Legon will serve as the athletes’ village, but major upgrades need to be done for the facility to meet the Africa Games standard.

But Mustapha Ussif is confident Ghana will be ready to host the rest of Africa in August 2023.

“I inspect work every month just to make sure that the constructors are on site. So far, all the three constructors upgrading the games village are on site,” he told Joy Sports.

“The halls are there, but we need to add heating facilities for warming water. These are requirements of the games.

“We need to put air-conditions – those facilities don’t have that – we have to provide that.

“You need to have security. If you go to the games’ village now, the security fence is done. We need to have a medical centre where injuries can be treated.

“All these are things we are working on and I’m very positive we’re going to [host the 2023 Africa Games].

“It’s not only Ghana, even Birmingham, if you have the opportunity of going to Birmingham, their facilities, they couldn’t complete all before the games.”

53 nations are expected to take part in the 13th Africa Games scheduled to start in August 2023 in Accra. The University of Ghana Sports Stadium and Borteyman Sports Complex, both under construction, are scheduled to host the games.