PICTURES: Renovations at Rufaro Stadium begin ahead of PSL 2023 season

Renovations at the ‘ceremonial’ home of Zimbabwean football, Rufaro Stadium in Mbare, have kick started with works at the sporting facility already under way.

This was revealed in pictures posted by the Harare City Council (HCC) on Facebook, showing council workers from various departments at work.

The photos were captioned: “All hands on deck! Various Council Departments on the ground at Rufaro Stadium as rehabilitation continues. Council is confident that they will meet the mid- March deadline for use of the ground.”

Renovations at the iconic the soccer are being carried out by City Parking after partnering the HCC last week.

Part of the deal agreements are that City Parking will fix the perimeter wall as well as construct a parking lot, shopping complex and revamp the B Arena ground.

City Parking Public Relations manager Francis Mandaza revealed to the Herald after the deal was struck few days ago.

“City Parking has started construction work at Rufaro Stadium on the agreed scope of work which includes perimeter wall, shopping complex, parking lot and B arena ground,” outlined Mandaza.

“Our contractors are already on the ground with their construction equipment ready to start work.

“We have already procured most of the needed building materials including 120 000 bricks, river sand, pit sand and cement among other materials. Our expectations are that by mid-March we should be nearing project completion.”

Rufaro was last used in 2019 before it was deemed unfit to host top flight league games by ZIFA’s First Instance Body due to its dilapidation, leading to a ban of the Mbare based sporting facility.

City Parking and HCC’s deal to give the traditional soccer venue a facelift comes three months after Kuda Tawgirei’s oil company Sakunda Holdings pulled out of another deal with the latter.

The reason for the withdrawal comes after Sakunda allegedly blamed City of Harare for ‘professional incompetence’.

Dynamos are itching to make a return to Rufaro their traditional home ground which holds much memories of their history success in the local premiership.

Meanwhile, with the pace renovations at the stadium are being done at, DeMbare could find themselves once again using Rufaro Stadium for their home matches a few games into the 2023 PSL season.