About 4bn/- is expected to be spent on the construction of a proposed Jakaya Kikwete Sports Academy at Msolwa area in Coast Region next year.
The 25-acre centre will host several sports including golf, swimming, netball, basketball, football and the beneficiaries are youths studying in primary and secondary schools.
Uhuru Marathon coordinator, Innocent Melleck, told journalists in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday that preliminary work on the project, including survey and architectural designs, is ready.
“We have the honour to announce that preliminary work is complete and the architectural designs will be handed over to President Kikwete during the Uhuru Marathon at the Leaders Club on the 7th of December,” Melleck said.
Meanwhile, Athletics Tanzania (AT) Secretary General, Suleiman Nyambui called on parents and guardians to allow their children to join the centre so as to produce a generation of excellent sportsmen and women.
He said it is time the nation grooms talent into future professionals and appealed to stakeholders to support the project. The proposed academy will be the first state-of-the-art centre in East Africa, according to Melleck.
By FADHILI AKIDA, Tanzania Daily News