The federal government effort toward restoring the Lagos National Stadium to its old glory has received a major boost with the commencement of the installation of the tartan tracks.
A top official of Kyle Next, one of the contractors handling the rehabilitation of the edifice, confirmed the laying of the tracks has commenced and could be completed in four weeks with the newly installed facility in place.Track technical specialist Joseph Ayinla of Ideal Sports, a sports facilities installation and management company, said the tracks will be laid in stages.
“The first stage that we commenced last week is the Elastic Layer which will be followed with the Sealant stage to make the tracks impermeable to water and other fluids. The third stage will be the coating.
“After all these have been done, a certified World Athletics tracks marker will then do the markings. There will be a nine lane running track and the strip for jumps, which is for long and triple jumps,” Ayinla, who was part of the team that laid the last tracks at the stadium in 1998 and has been involved in the laying of such facilities in some top class arena in Nigeria and beyond, said
Already, the digital scoreboard has been installed and a revamping of the football pitch of the stadium by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, Adopt-a- Pitch-Initiative, put in place by the Sports Minister Sunday Dare.
On the rehabilitation of the terraces, the Minister confirmed that progress is being made in sourcing the funds needed for the project.
“Our Adopt-A-Pitch arrangement with Premier Lotto for the Lagos National Stadium covers the pitch, tracks and scoreboard and that is on course. We are also making progress in sourcing the funds to fix the terraces.” Minister said.
