Groundbreaking ceremony held for sports fields at Nkurenkuru

The Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of sports facilities and a multipurpose youth centre at Nkurenkuru in the Kavango West Region.

Speaking at the event, the ministry’s Executive Director Erastus Haitengela said phase one of the project will involve the debushing and clearing of the plot by local young people through work-for-money arrangements.

This will be followed by the construction of fields for football, netball and volleyball as well as electricity, water connections and ablution facilities, he said.

It is estimated that the construction of the multi-purpose youth centre and sports facilities will take three years.

The ministry is implementing the project with the Kavango West Regional Council.

Senior Public Relations Officer in the ministry, Aina Shikesho explained to Nampa that the donated plot was among the ministry’s critical ongoing priority projects. The land was fenced off during the 2018/19 financial year. She said the ministry temporarily halted the project due to a lack of funds.

“Additionally, during the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) of 2018/19 to 2019/20, Cabinet directed all ministries to halt the construction of new projects due to the global economic crisis,” Shikesho said.

However, during the MTEF period of 2022/23, the ministry submitted a budget provision of N$7 million for the 2023/24 financial year and N$10 million for the subsequent financial years.

On Tuesday, Kavango West Governor Sirkka Ausiku during the welcoming of the Kavango West Under-20 football and netball players called on the ministry to fast-track the construction of sports facilities at Nkurenkuru as the region has no standard sports fields and are forced to make use of school sports fields.

“Now would be the time for the line ministry to meet the players and upcoming sportsmen and women in this region halfway, especially after showcasing the potential of winning this year’s Namibian Newspaper Cup,” Ausiku said.

The Kavango West football team won this year’s Newspaper Cup after defeating Otjozondjupa Region 2-0 on Monday.

The netball team took the fourth place at the games held in Otjiwarongo over the weekend.