HARARE – The government in partnership with the Kuda Tagwirei owned company Sakunda Holdings, has reportedly procured new bucket seats for the condemned giant National Sports Stadium (NSS).
Bought from a Chinese company, Avant Sports Industries, the first consignment of the bucket seats is expected in the country in August.
Images of the bucket seats started making rounds on social media on Monday, showing the government, Sports and Recreation Commission officials and the Sakunda Holdings representatives assessing the product.
The procurement of the bucket seats comes after several failed attempts to purchase them before.
There is suspicion the delay was caused by ‘corrupt’ government officials who were eyeing the tender to supply the product with inflated prices.
Therefore, the acting director of sport Ignatius Vambe who is part of the delegation assessing the bucket seats, said the government decided to “do direct procurement” following delays in the previously failed arrangements.
“The government has now decided to do direct procurement after delays in the previous methods,” he revealed.
“Together with our partners (Sakunda) we have been assessing everything (in China) before the shipment .
“We also wanted to make sure that we get all the fittings and post-installation maintenance support and that the seats meet international standards.”
The local government director engineer Nicholas Mutengu outlined: “We have assessed all their (seats) certificates and did a background check to see if they have FIFA certification.”
He added: “We are happy they have all that. We also needed to agree on the scope of work and also get to support after installations because we also want to be able to keep this thing in shape after these installations.”
The procurement of the bucket seats is a good step in the right direction since they are a major requirement on the FIFA and CAF checklist that will allow the NSS to host international matches.
The NSS was condemned by CAF to host international matches some few years ago until the venue gets renovated to meet the continental football mother body’s minimum required standards.
Apart from bucket seats, FIFA and CAF also require installation of electronic turnstiles, CCTV and a media tribune.
When are the seats arriving imagine from China so far
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