Construction of Cape Coast Stadium: Contractors demand tax exemption

The Chinese Construction Firm working on the new Cape Coast Sports Stadium has appealed to the government to expedite action on the tax and duty exemption procedures for imported materials for the project.

According to them, the process between the ministries of Youth and Sports, Finance, Trade and Industry and the Ghana Revenue Authority are “complex and bureaucratic”, delaying the work at a great cost to them.

The Project Manager, Tang Weiyi, ,made the appeal when the Minister for Youth and Sports, Dr Mustapha Ahmed,  inspected th progress of work as part of a “fact finding tour” of sports facilities and youth leadership training centres in the Central Region.

Construction Work on the 15,000 capacity multi-purpose stadium being funded with a $30million--Chinese-Grant started in August 2013, and is expected to be completed in August this year.

However, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, following a request from the company in respect of tax exemption  on imported construction materials has extended the completion date of the project to October.

When completed, the stadium will have eight running tracks, natural grass football field, car parks, courts for other sporting discplines, among others.

Weiyi further appealed for security to be beefed up at the site since work had reached a stage where very vital equipment would be installed, and also stressed the urgent need for settlement of site utility bills which were soaring.

The project is about 82 per cent complete.

Earlier at a meeting with staff of the Regional National Sports Authority (NSA), the minister assured stakeholders that the Mensah Sports Stadium would not be abandoned after the new stadium was completed .