Prime
Hoima Stadium, a Christmas gift in waiting
The structure of the Hoima Stadium presently.
What you need to know:
Global construction company Summa from Turkey on Friday assured government officials and members of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Local Organizing Committee (Loc) that the project will be completed way earlier than expected.
If there were any inklings of doubt about Hoima City Stadium coming to life, then the recent official visit of the facility finely buried them at the weekend.
Global construction company Summa from Turkey on Friday assured government officials and members of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Local Organizing Committee (Loc) that the project will be completed way earlier than expected.
“The contractor is ahead of schedule and will finish the stadium about four months before the time which we signed the contract,” sports minister Hon. Peter Ogwang told the media moments after inspecting the facility in Hoima on Friday.
This work, which began last July, was meant to be completed within 18 months. However, as one senior official put it, Summa will deliver the complete facility to Uganda as ‘a Christmas gift’.
“The commissioning date has been highlighted as December 20 but the actual completion of work will be around October and early November,” remarked National Council of Sports (NCS) general secretary Dr. Bernard Patrick Ogwel.
Officials inspect project works.
The tour of duty guided by Summa’s project manager Murat Altun, which lasted about two hours, was a vivid confirmatory test. The concrete structural phase of the stadium is complete.
Summa is currently installing seats in a clockwise format across the terraces, which will make it a 20000-seater facility.
There were also cranes fitting the roof at the pavilion end which will be followed by exterior christened national colours black, yellow and red.
The outdoor stadium centre ground is set to take in hybrid grass by July and the stadium’s basement parking is set. “Hoima Stadium is a first-class stadium which is at the level of European standards,” Hon. Ogwang confidently stated.
The indoor stadium located north east of the main stadium is coming to life with the set-up of the terraces for 2000 seats and the swimming pool adjacent complete.
The outside football pitch layout is done with preparations for grass done. Summa finished the main outside perimeter wall and there are plans to create a couple more outlets.
“I would like to express my delight for something that was just a dream for us and now coming to reality,” Fufa president Moses Magogo said.
The family of Dr. James Rujumba donated 10 acres of land for the facility; Fufa added 14 acres before the government raised the stadium’s acreage to 34.
“In my life, I’d never seen a project in this country which has been done on time with the right expertise as this project is,” a happy Magogo remarked.
Located about 3km outside Hoima town, the stadium’s surrounding atmosphere is akin to Alassane Ouattara Stadium, which hosted the 2023 Afcon final in the north of Ivory Coast capital Abidjan.
That ambience resonates with the placement of Stade de Port-Gentil in Gabon or even the Charles Konan Banny Stadium in Yamoussoukro, 250km north of Abidjan.
Crane working on stadium exterior.
Outside the Hoima Stadium walls, there are plans to create new tarmac of about 50km for ease of access of the facility.
On the back of their successful stadium projects in Senegal, Rwanda, Gabon Summa’s work is helping Uganda meet the Caf deadline for two stadiums ahead of Afcon 2027.
It explains the nearly four-hour meeting that Afcon 2027 Loc had at Hoima after the stadium inspection.
ABOUT HOIMA CITY STADIUM
Full Name: Hoima City Stadium
Location: Hoima
Stance: Multi-purpose
Facility Size: 34 acres
Project Cost: $129m
Construction Firm: Summa (Turkiye)
Outdoor Stadium Capacity: 20000-seater
Indoor Stadium Capacity: 2000-seater
Expected Disciplines: Football, Swimming, Basketball, Netball, Volleyball
Forecast Tournament: 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Finals
