Wajir County Security Committee has expressed satisfaction with the progress of the ongoing construction of Wajir Stadium, affirming that the project was on course for completion by the end of May.
Speaking during an inspection visit to the site, Wajir County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo said the committee assessed the works and established that the project is on course for completion by the end of May.
“Today we are at Wajir Stadium that is under construction. As a County Security Committee, we came to inspect the progress of the works and I must confess that we are satisfied with the construction works that are going on,” said the County Commissioner.
He noted that the contractor had assured the committee that the project would be completed within the stipulated timeline.
“We have a deadline for the end of May to have the stadium ready and according to the works that we have seen so far, I think we are on course and the contractor has assured us that he is going to meet the deadline,” he added.
Ngumo cited electricity connection as the main outstanding challenge, saying the project is awaiting installation of a transformer by Kenya Power.
“We have a challenge of electricity. We are waiting for a transformer from Kenya Power and we are going to escalate that to the headquarters so that it can be dealt with by our seniors,” he said.
The County Commissioner said once complete, the stadium will have a seating capacity of 10,000 people and will include an athletics track and a football pitch.
“We are expecting to host national and international games in Wajir County. This is going to be a big boost to the economy of this county and Wajir town in particular,” Ngumo said.
He added that at the peak of construction, the project is expected to engage about 1,000 workers.
On his part, the Project Engineer, Dennis Olo, assured residents that the facility will meet the required standards and specifications.
“In regards to the quality of work that you expect here, you expect very top-notch quality of work as per the designs and the specifications in the drawings and in our contracts,” said Olo.
He noted that a robust quality assurance team is on site, working alongside consultants from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to ensure compliance through general supervision and regular inspections.
Olo further revealed that mitigation measures have been put in place to address power challenges and ensure continuous operations at the site.
“We have mitigated the risk of power losses. We have a 220 KV generator on the ground and have made measures to ensure that the project is running 24 hours a day. Definitely, we will meet that target,” he said.
by Hamdi Buthul
