Upgrade of facilities for NDSF competitions advances

Organisers of the Niger Delta Sports Festival (NDSF) have made reasonable progress in the upgrade of some of the sporting facilities identified for competitions.

A turning point in the ongoing facelift of the facilities has been the effective deployment of Engineers and other support workers.

According to the Chairman of the Facility and Transport subcommittee, Dr Ochuko Igbigbisie, the major work is the refurbishment of the Uyo Township Stadium Swimming Pool.

“It is an Olympic size 9-lane pool but many of the Technical facilities have been vandalised.

“The work started today with the draining of the water to ascertain the condition of the floor”, Igbigbisie told Journalists after an inspection round in Uyo.

On an upbeat note, the Facilities subcommittee Chairman said that the preliminary report of Engineers showed that the pool is not leaking and can be revived.

“Our major fears was alayed when the Engineers handling the swimming pool upgrade declared that the pool is not leaking which would have posed an extended threat to timely repairs”, Igbigbisie further explained.

He assured that the facility will be ready in a week’s time to the games.

On the state of some other facilities like tennis and basketball courts, he disclosed that they would require reflooring and other touch-ups.

The refurbishment of moribund facilities in the host state is a major collateral benefit the festival, sponsored by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) brings to host states.

“The organisers will not be going away with these upgraded facilities at the end of the festival, that is the essence of hosting the event and benefitting from the NDDC intervention through sports”, Igbigbisie added.

The NDSF starts from April 1-8 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and will feature over 3000 athletes competing in 17 games. Dunamis Icon is the project consultants.