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The Federal Government’s ongoing renovation of the National Stadium Lagos has reached an advanced stage, with the commencement of the installation of the tartan track inside the mainbowl last week.
A top official of Kyle Next, one of the contractors handling the rehabilitation of the edifice, confirmed that the laying of the track had commenced and could be completed in four weeks.
Track technical specialist Joseph Ayinla of Ideal Sports, a sports facilities installation and management company, said the track would be laid in stages.
“The first stage that we commenced last week is the Elastic layer (E-layer) stage, which will be followed with the Sealant stage to make the tracks impermeable to water and other fluids. The third stage will be the coating,” Ayinla was quoted as saying in a statement from the ministry.
“After all these have been done, a certified World Athletics tracks marker would then do the markings. There will be an eight-lane running track and the strip for jumps, which is for long and triple jumps,” added Ayinla, who was part of the team that laid the last tracks at the stadium in 1998.
Already, a digital scoreboard has been installed, as well as the revamping of the football pitch of the long-abandoned stadium by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development through the Public-Private Partnership arrangement and the Adopt-A-Pitch initiative by sports minister Sunday Dare.
On the rehabilitation of the terraces, the minister confirmed that progress had been made in sourcing funds for the project.
He said, “Our Adopt-A-Pitch arrangement with Premier Lotto for the National Stadium, Lagos covers the pitch, tracks and scoreboard and that is on course. We are also making progress in sourcing the funds to fix the terraces.”
Last week, work also began on the regrassing of the pitch of the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State.
