President Banda Celebrates as the Construction of Two Major Sports Stadia in Lusaka Commences

LUSAKA, Zambia, January 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- At a ceremony today, His Excellency Mr Rupiah Banda, President of Zambia, marked the commencement of two major building projects in Lusaka: a new state of the art sports stadium and the redevelopment of Independence stadium.

The new Independence stadium will be the largest in the country accommodating up to 50,000 spectators. It will also be the home of the national football team and will stand on the site of the previous Independence stadium.

Meanwhile, the new Lusaka stadium will be Zambia's second largest sports stadium; it is being built in parallel with the stadium in Ndola, which is due to be completed in October of this year. The projects will also create hundreds of job opportunities for Zambians.

The President said: "Today marks a key milestone in the history of Zambian sport. Sport is a wonderful way of bringing young people together and learning key skills such as the importance of team work. The new stadia will be popular venues, hosting domestic and international football and other sporting events as well as social and cultural activities."

The President concluded: "International cooperation is vital in attracting investment for projects such as these, which will benefit so many of our people. I am particularly pleased that the stadia are designed in an eco-friendly way which reinforces the sports theme of 'Green Humanities, Science and Technology' to tackle the problem of climate change."

The ceremony was also attended by the Chinese Vice Premier, Hui Liangyu, as part of his official state visit to the Zambia. During the visit he and President Banda will discuss growing opportunities to boost investment and developments in Zambia, with the new stadia demonstrating how international cooperation can benefit all Zambians and build the foundations of a strong future

The projects are being funded by a concessional loan of US$94 million from the Peoples Republic of China and are expected to be completed in 2013 with work commencing after the coming rainy season.