Hope at last as heavy work starts at Kip Keino Stadium

The much-talked-about Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, is finally starting to take shape after the contractor handling its renovation resumed work at the weekend.

Shiv Construction Company who had left site three years ago after a myriad of issues, including delayed payments.

Several site visits by Ministry of Sports officials, led by the Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, seem to have borne fruit after the machines roared back to life at the weekend.

The contractor is now working on a six-month deadline to complete the works.

In her tour last month, Amina told journalists that they had entered into a memorandum of understanding with the contractor to complete the works on the stalled VIP pavilion at the stadium.

“We have entered into an agreement with the contractor who has agreed to start works immediately and it should be complete in six months before the next phase of building the terraces start,” said Amina.

During Nation Sport’s tour on the facility, the almost 50 workers were busy in different points showing the seriousness of the works ongoing.

According to a source at the stadium, who did not want to be named as they are not authorized to issue statements, more workers will be hired and there will be day and night shifts from next week to hasten the works.

“There will be two shifts from next week and our bosses are serious on completing the facility on time because it has taken long to complete. More people will be hired and we hope in six months we shall be out of this place,” said one of the workers.

Work at the facility stalled in 2017 immediately after the Sports Kenya and the County Government of Uasin Gishu signed an agreement to renovate the stadium with works set to cover the VIP terraces, changing rooms, a conference hall, indoor games hall and terraces for between 15,000 to 25,000 spectators.

Sh230 million shillings was the initial amount released from the national government while the county government of Uasin Gishu was to pump in Sh100 million shillings to handle the parking lot and lighting.

The works was later divided into four after the initial contractor WIETEC Company was handed over the eastern wing and began their portion of the works after getting paid eight percent of an initial 20 per cent deposit where they completed their portion last year and vacated the place. The project stalled after the funds were diverted.

The current budget for the facility according to the ministry of sports is Sh. 653,590,545.
Athletes in the region have been training in the already congested University of Eldoret track and Moi University of Law-Annex Campus and the completion of the facility will offer good training grounds especially the sprinters.

The 2016 Africa 400m hurdles bronze medalist Haron Koech said that it was good to see the machines roaring back to life after a long wait.

“This is a good move to see the contractor getting back to work and I know we shall be soon trooping to the stadium for our normal training programme once the coronavirus pandemic has been contained,” said Koech who has been training in Eldoret.