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The acting Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Professor Emmanuel Osei Sarpong, has acknowledged engineering defects at the Accra Sports Stadium, saying the authority is considering whether to renovate the existing facility or construct a new one.
Prof. Sarpong said the NSA was assessing the stadium’s structural and infrastructure challenges, adding that the necessary repairs would have to be undertaken gradually because not all the problems could be resolved at once.
His comments follow concerns about the safety of the facility after former NSA Board Chairman Professor Fred Awaah described it as a “death trap” on August 29 and suggested that it would have been demolished if the authority had the power to do so.
However, Prof. Sarpong defended the stadium’s importance and said the NSA was examining the available options to determine the most suitable long-term solution.
“For me, Accra Sports Stadium is a very good place. We have an engineering problem and so that is one of the things we are looking at, but we cannot fix everything at a go. We will explore the options to determine whether renovation or building a new stadium would be the best solution,” he said.
NSA to Address Defects in Stages
The acting director-general explained that the authority was identifying the stadium’s deficiencies and determining which areas required urgent attention.
He said immediate problems needed to be addressed to allow sporting activities to continue while the NSA considered the facility’s long-term future.
Prof. Sarpong stressed that the stadium could not simply be demolished while the authority assessed the available options.
“In the interim, we cannot break Accra Sports Stadium down. So we need to look at the gaps one after the other, solve them gradually until we are sure the majority of the gaps are,” he added.
His remarks suggest that the NSA intends to adopt a phased approach to addressing the stadium’s challenges rather than attempting to resolve all the defects at once.
Ageing Pipes and Water Storage Concerns
Among the problems identified by Prof. Sarpong are inadequate water storage facilities and ageing pipes that continue to deteriorate.
He attributed some of the infrastructure challenges to the stadium’s age and its proximity to the sea.
“I expected a big stadium like this to have an underground tank, but it was built several years ago. The pipes keep wearing out because of its proximity to the sea,” he said.
The challenges highlight the maintenance demands associated with an ageing facility whose infrastructure requires ongoing attention.
Prof. Sarpong, however, did not give a timeline for a final decision on whether the stadium would undergo extensive renovation or be replaced with a new structure.
Stadium Remains Important to Ghana Football
Despite concerns about its condition, the acting director-general emphasised the facility’s continued importance to Ghanaian football.
According to Prof. Sarpong, the Accra Sports Stadium is currently the only playing field in Ghana accredited by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
This makes the venue particularly important for football activities in the country, even as questions remain about its infrastructure and the need for improvements.
The NSA must therefore balance the need to address immediate defects with the broader task of securing a suitable sporting facility for the future.
For now, the authority is expected to continue assessing and repairing the stadium’s problems in stages while considering whether renovation or a new stadium would provide the most effective long-term solution.