The Member of Parliament for Okaikoi Central has commissioned another Astro turf field in the Constituency at the Presbyterian Government schoolyard in Apenkwa.
This brings to two the number of such facilities that have been constructed in the constituency following the completion and commissioning of the Sheikh Osmanu Sharubutu Sports Complex at New Fadama last year.
Hon. Patrick Yaw Boamah who briefly addressed the gathering during the commissioning on Wednesday morning admonished the community and users to ensure the facility is well maintained.
He stated that future generations also have a right to benefit from the field because it is not a project just for the youth of today.
“I believe that with support of the church and football teams around we will put together an arrangement that will ensure that the facility is well managed for the benefit of everyone in and around the Okaikoi Central Constituency,” he said.
Mr. Patrick Boamah disclosed that together with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Presbyterian Church Apenkwa, he decided to upgrade the field, which was in a very poor state.
Apenkwa, he said, has developed a lot of sporting talents but lately, all the fields where these talents were nurtured have deteriorated.
According to him, it therefore became one of his initiatives to build an astro turf in the community with the backing of the National Chief Imam and support from the GNPC Foundation.
The facility, he said, is there for all within and outside the constituency but stressed what is required is its proper maintenance.
Minister-designate for Sports and also MP for Yabaga Kabori, Mustapha Ussif, who was present for commissioning praised the project as very laudable.
He commended GNPC for the invaluable support and disclosed that until the company began constructing the Astro turfs, there were only two in the entire country.
The effort of the GNPC Foundation, he said, is bringing back the passion for community sports, which hitherto had fizzled away.
He urged other corporate institutions to emulate what GNPC is doing so that every constituency in the country will have three or four of these sports facilities.
He stressed that the participation of GNPC is testimony government is committed to sport’s infrastructure development for communities.
“We are determined to revive community sports but if we are going to succeed in this effort we need such facilities to be able to achieve our objectives. “
“With these facilities we will be able to discover and harness sporting talents for the local leagues and the national teams,” he said.
Mr. Dominic Duah from the GNPC Foundation, in his address noted that the project has been done very well and praised the contractor for a good job.
He appealed to the community to maintain the facility very well and stressed the Foundation has done its part and provided the field.
“It is now your responsibility to adopt sustainable maintenance culture to take care of this field,” he stated.
He disclosed that GNPC is currently constructing 30 Astro turfs around the country out of which some have been completed while others are ongoing.
He stressed that developing sports at the community level is the best way to build a successful sports sector for the country.
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