President Jakaya Kikwete will officially inaugurate a new state-of-the-art community based Sports Park, named after him at Kidongo Chekundu grounds in Dar es Salaam on October 17th, this year.
President Jakaya Kikwete
During his meeting with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Symbion Power, US energy provider, Paul Hinks at the JW Marriot Essex House, in New York, on Tuesday, President Kikwete agreed to grace the official opening of the centre, aimed at grooming young talents in various sports.
Hinks told the president, who is in the US for an official visit that construction work at the park was complete, waiting for the official opening. He further said that the new project will add value to the famous grounds that was once reduced to a car park and an unauthorised garage.
The new park will give the youth in Tanzania a pubic facility and professional coaching, the likes of which they have not had access to before. President Kikwete laid a foundation stone and planted a symbolic palm tree on the site late last year, to mark a milestone in the construction of park.
Dubbed, Jakaya M. Kikwete Youth Park, the centre will provide a full-size 3G artificial surface, along with five-a-side pitch, two sand-based pitches and a basketball court. An administration building as well as changing rooms will also be provided, along with floodlighting, to ensure the community can make best use of the facilities.
JMK Park, constructed to the tune of 2 million US dollars (about 4bn/-) is part of Symbion Power, Grasshopper Soccer and English Premier League side Sunderland AFC’s groundbreaking football partnership with Tanzania.
Sunderland AFC is lending its expertise to the creation of a football development programme in the country, in partnership with Symbion, who provides the nation with much needed electricity After the official opening, the park will be open for the public for the first time on October 19th this year, in which various young boys and girls will be admitted to train in various sport disciplines.
According to the current programme, the park will start by offering training in football, basketball, netball, volleyball and hockey. However, the park will officially begin offering football training to Under-14 & 16 by January next year.
It will also provide training to U-10 &11. The training will be supervised by qualified and experienced coaches from Sunderland AFC. On basketball, training will be offered to U-12 &15 boys from 30 Primary Schools in Dar es Salaam. The schools will form a total of 30 teams that will compete in an annual league. Training for girls will begin to be offered at the later stage.
The park which will be open everyday, will also be available for use by senior players according to procedures to be set by the management.
The project, the first of its kind in the country, will see thousands of youngsters benefit from a joined up approach combining football, education and community engagement, harnessing the knowledge and expertise of Sunderland AFC.