The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mahama Ayariga, has said the Cape Coast Sports Stadium will be completed by August 2015.

He said this after he paid a visit with the Chinese Ambassador Sun Baohong and the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Cape Coast Priscilla Arhin over the weekend to inspect progress of work there.

The Cape Coast Sports Stadium Project Manager, Tang showed a presentation on the profile of the sports stadium and indicated that the Chinese aid project would cost 30 million US Dollars after completion.

He explained that “the entire stand foundation beam and cushion caps, the west, east, north and south first floor stand and west stand second floor of the stadium had been completed. Work is 46% complete and we hoped to finish it by August 2015.

"But we are facing some challenges such as tax and duty exemption on local and imported materials, resident permit for Chinese staff and the need to quickly settle the site’s water and electricity bills by the Ministry of Youth and Sports”.

Ambassador Sun Baohong said even though the Minister assumed office not too long ago, he has showed lots of commitments and dedication to the completion of the project and tasked the Chinese workers to work very hard to finish the project within the scheduled time.

Ayariga expressed gratitude to the project manager for the opportunity to go round to inspect works at the stadium with the speed of work, adding that he had no doubt that the project would be completed within the scheduled time.

He said “I am extremely grateful to the Chinese government for the grant to construct the stadium and I am looking forward to establish similar facilities in all the regions to promote and develop sports in the country".

Ayariga assured the contractor of the sports stadium that he would convene a meeting at the Ministry to expedite action on the challenges the contractor had raised.

He stated that he would meet the Minister for Interior to address the issue of resident permit for the Chinese staff and also added that the electricity and water bills would soon be paid by his Ministry.

The Minister assured the Ambassador that the numerous investments the Chinese government was making in Sports would not go waste but rather it would be put into good use to achieve the desired results.