New Main Nation Stadium opens in Dar

The Minister for Information, Culture and Sports, George Mkuchika, said the new stadium would be available next month.

Mkuchika made the announcement in Parliament Thursday but cautioned that work on the stadium was yet to be fully completed.

The stadium would host the African Nations Cup qualifier match between Tanzania aka Stars and Mauritius on May 31 in preparation for the 2010 finals in South Africa.

However, the stadium can only host matches during daylight as logistics for electricity supply are still being worked out by engineers.

The Tanzania Football Federation has already sent a special request to FIFA hinting on the use of the stadium that should be limited for daylight matches.

The minister said he is optimistic that Fifa would okay the TFF request.
According to the minister, the use of the stadium will be limited to only two matches per week in order to minimize depreciation.

Mkuchika said the Government has in most cases avoided to release the stadium for use in international matches owing to incompleteness of some important features. He said among features still to be installed include tartan on the running track and the construction of the south enclosure that is linked to the indoor stadium.

Security features are yet to be installed in 48 passage ways of the four gates. The Government is expecting to float an international tender to get a stadium management firm to run the complex viably.

The minister told allAfrica.com that the government had to reverse its previous stance on avoiding the use of the stadium until it is a hundred percent completed.

Mkuchika would not say when the stadium would be handed over by the contractor, but cautioned that spectators should exercise care while cheering up their teams, insisting that vandalism by unruly fans would not be tolerated.

Last year, the stadium hosted two matches in a span of a week, one against Uganda and the other against Mozambique during the African nations Cup qualifiers.

Massive damage was reported during the matches forcing the government to suspend use of the venue to date. Construction of the stadium began in 2005 by Beijing Construction and Engineering Group Company Limited.