The President of the Republic, His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has commissioned the new ultra-modern Cape Coast Sports Stadium at a very impressive ceremony in Cape Coast.

Speaking at the commissioning, the President said the Cape Coast Sports Stadium is very unique and the first multipurpose stadium to be constructed in the country complete with sporting facilities and equipment.

The President said the facility would not only add to the country’s existing sports infrastructure but also play a significant role in the development of sports in the country.

The 16,000-capacity multi-purpose stadium was funded by Government as its contribution towards the development of sports infrastructure in the country at the cost of $30,000.00.The construction of the facility was undertaken by China Jiangxi Corporation for International Economic and Technical Cooperation and has a football pitch, basketball, Handball, Volleyball and tennis ball courts, a modern eight-lane tartan tracks, boxing gym and arena and table tennis hall. It also has washrooms, dressing rooms, 60-bed capacity hostel, and kitchen.

President Mahama said construction of the sports stadium would go a long way to enhance sports development in the region.

He paid glowing tribute to the late President J.E.A.Mills for his role in initiating the project adding that it filled him with great pride to have fulfilled his promise to the people of Cape Coast in completing the project.

President Mahama  decried the deplorable state of the major stadia in the country but added that this new one would never go the same way. ” I would want to see this facility in good condition after five years,” he said.

He said a new policy would be introduced to ensure that the sports development function of the National Sports Authority is separated from the facility management role to bring about efficiency.

The President said every region would have its own modern stadium starting with Brong Ahafo, Upper East, Upper West and Volta in that order.

The Minister of Youth and Sports Hon.Nii Lantey Vanderpuye bemoaned the sorry state of the Kumasi, Essipon, and Accra and Tamale stadia and promised to fix them.

“I know Ghanaians will be worried this day when we are commissioning this stadium because of the way the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Sports Authority have allowed the earlier ones in Kumasi, Accra, Essipon and Tamale to deteriorate. I stand here today to assure the whole country and in doing so, we are not only going to manage this facility well, but we will fix all the others that have gone bad.”He said.

The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Her Excellency Sun Baohong said the project would deepen the relationship between the two countries, further diversify Ghanaian culture and stimulate economic development.

Present at the ceremony were Hon. George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan, Central Regional Minister and Hon.Mrs. Priscilla Arhin Korankye, Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly.