After three years of push and pull between government departments over cash delay, renovation work at Ruring’u Stadium in Nyeri County, which stalled when the work was 30 percent done, has resumed.
Ruring’u is one of the seven county stadiums the national government promised during the campaigns ahead of 2013 General Election. Projected to cost Sh450 million, it is the biggest sports project in the region.
The government embarked on upgrading the stadium to international standards to enable it stage key championships, thereby boosting local sports.
Ruring’u was established in the 1930s by the colonial government for high altitude training after the leased the land from a a local clan (Aithiegeni a mbari ya Murumuki) at Sh300 per year, but the deal was invalidated after the declaration of a state of emergency in 1952.
It was at the same venue where the late Jomo Kenyatta publicly told Kenyans to pick up arms against the colonial government in July 1952.
Later, after Kenyatta was released from detention, he returned to Ruring’u in 1964 and called upon freedom fighters to lay down their weapons and stop fighting the British.
Since independence, the stadium has changed ownership from a community field, municipal council, Agricultural Society of Kenya and back to the county government, something which has deterred the development of the facility for decades.
Last week, Nation Sport witnessed heavy machinery rolling on the ground, and more than 50 workers busy on the site.
Trailers loaded with construction materials were packed inside the stadium, an indication that work would begin soon.
The contractor has already moved to the site and cleared thick bushes inside the stadium.
Levelling of the ground and digging of drainage tunnels around the main pitch is ongoing.
With excavation and compacting of the grounds done, the remaining part of the first phase of the project is expected to be complete by August, according to Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu. Phase One of the work is projected to cost Sh280 million.
The current three-month deadline is the second for the project. In June 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta a six-month deadline for completion of the work.
At the time, most obstacles to the work were easily done away with, perhaps because of the impending 2017 General Election.
That included the issuance of the title deed to the county government that marking the end of a decade-long ownership wrangle between the Agricultural Society of Kenya and Nyeri Municipal Council, and later the county government.
Two months after the project took off, a big tussle ensued between the contractor and Kenya Power over a power line which had cut through the stadium.
The bone of contention was about who would meet the Sh1.4 million cost of relocating the power line. Neither of the parties was willing to meet the cost.
Eventually, the matter was resolved through the intervention of the Ministry of Energy and the local leadership.
That debacle was a perfect excuse for the government not to meet its six-month timeline to complete the project.
Upon relocation of the power line, work started at the stadium though, albeit at a slugging pace. Then the machines on the site fell silent following delay by the government in remitting funds.
Since then, the stadium had become a venue for meetings by high-powered delegations from the national and county governments.
Wambugu remembers his many meetings with the Sports Ministry officials, including Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed to discuss the fate of the stadium at the time.
He is now confident the project will be completed this year.
“We expect work on the pitch, the athletics track, and the two pavilions to be complete by August. All indications are that this will happen,” says Wambugu.
Having been on the frontline fighting for the completion of the stadium, start of work on the stadium came as a big relief for Wambugu.
“This stadium is very important to Nyeri people because of its historical significance and the fact that it was launched by the President himself in 2017.
It will not only benefit the local youth but in the entire country since it is a high altitude training zone,” added Wambugu.
Nyeri County Governor Mutahi Kahiga said the resumption of work at the stadium shows the commitment by the government to fulfil its promises to the youth and the local sports fraternity.
“We are truly excited to see the contractor back on site in Ruring’u. We applaud the President for his unrelenting efforts to fulfil his promise to Nyeri people, and Kenyans. We are aware that while his desire has always been to retain the historical importance of Ruring’u Stadium, those who hate development have been sabotaging his agenda,” Kahiga said.
Kahiga observed that the stadium was the third biggest project in the region the government is keen to complete within this year. Others are construction of a modern market at Chaka, and the revival of the Nairobi-Nanyuki railway line.
Governor Kahiga pledged to take care of the stadium once the work is complete by employing an administrator. He has urged Nyeri people to jealously guard the facility.
Already, the county government has done the first phase of perimeter fencing around the stadium at the cost of Sh20 million.
Central region Athletics Kenya chairman David Miano called upon the stakeholders to position themselves to take full advantage of the stadium which he termed “a game-changer in the region.”
“I urge everyone in the region to see the enormous opportunities that come with this facility.
