President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated government's commitment to improving sporting infrastructure across the country, with plans underway for the construction of 10 new stadia.He made the announcement on Tuesday during a courtesy call by Ghana's domestic champions, Medeama, Nations FC and Ampem Darkoa Ladies, at the Jubilee House.The three clubs dominated the local football scene last season, with Medeama winning the Ghana Premier League, Nations FC lifting the MTN FA Cup and Ampem Darkoa Ladies claiming the Women's Premier League title.Mahama said government has a responsibility to ensure that all regions have access to quality sporting facilities.One of the things government has a responsibility for is to provide sporting facilities so that all regions of this country can have good sporting facilities, he said.He noted that some of Ghana's 10 original regions did not have standard stadia, while the six regions created later also lack major sporting facilities.And so in this year's budget, the Minister of Finance is making allocation for the building of 10 new stadia, Mahama said.The projects will cover Oti, Western North, Ahafo, Bono East, Savannah, North East, Bono, Upper East and Upper West, while the Ho Sports Stadium is also set for major refurbishment.Ho has a sports stadium but it's run down, and so for Ho, the Ho sports stadium is going to be refurbished and almost built afresh into a new stadium, he added.The President said the new facilities will be designed to accommodate multiple sporting disciplines, rather than focusing solely on football.The stadia will include football pitches and athletics tracks, as well as facilities for basketball, volleyball and other sports.This would include football pitches, would also include athletics tracks, and then it would also include what we call the lesser sports, so volleyball, basketball, and all those other sports will also have facilities in the stadium, Mahama said.He further reiterated the need for greater investment in sports outside football.We also believe that we should put more money into the lesser sports, he said.
