Sports Minister Abdulla Rafiu has disclosed a change in the contractor responsible for the development of the National Stadium.
The government, under President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, planned to demolish and rebuild the National Stadium using a US$40 million loan secured from the Exim Bank of India.
At Wednesday’s Parliament sitting, Kulhudhuffushi North MP Mohamed Dawud inquired about the progress of the stadium development project. In response, Minister Rafiu explained that the contractor was initially assigned multiple works in addition to the stadium project. Therefore, project commencement was delayed as there was no way to start the project as a separate project, he said. He emphasized that even if the contractor aimed to undertake four projects simultaneously, it would not be feasible to execute all simultaneously.
“The main challenge is that the stadium has to be demolished. It will be very difficult to carry this out without providing an alternative,” Rafiu said.
The minister said the contractor has now been replaced and solutions have been found for the concerns. However, the minister did not specify a start date for the stadium’s redevelopment.
“Now, the work on the Galolhu Stadium can be postponed to focus on the synthetic track,” Rafiu said.
