The Minister for Sports and Recreation, Kofi Adams, says a facilities maintenance manual has been developed to improve the upkeep of sports stadia nationwide.

He made this known on Tuesday, 4th November, when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee, following concerns raised in the Auditor-General’s 2019 report about the absence of a clear maintenance policy for national sports facilities.

“These stadia, as you rightly know, were constructed many years ago. It’s only through some intermittent renovations that maintenance has been done,” he said.

“However, through best practices across the world, we have been able to gather documents and develop a maintenance manual, which the NSA and the Ministry are now applying. You would observe that recently, even when a church programme was held at the Accra Sports Stadium, the pitch was not affected. This is because of the system the Ministry has put in place and which the NSA is applying,” he added.

The manual, he added, will include schedules for inspection, standard operating procedures for pitch care, anti-corrosion measures for steel members in coastal stadia, and protocols for dealing with encroachment,  referencing issues faced at venues such as the Borteyman Sports Complex.