Babil Group plan to spend over $130M on Gahanga Sports village

BABILAKS construction limited, a Turkish company under the Babil group of companies is set to spend an estimate $130m to $150m on a state of art Sports Village which is comprised of a 40,000 seater stadium in Gahanga sector, Kicukiro district.

The development was confirmed recently by Mustafa Cem Ozdemir, head of Babil Group’s international development.

According to Mustafa, the sports village will be made of up 8 hectares for the stadium, 4-star good quality hotel with 200 rooms, Olympic swimming pool, Core Park open to the public, Entertainment Park among others.

“We are working on a bigger touristic project, it’s not only the stadium but there are many facilities which will be offered by this village. This is going to be modern village, first of its kind in Africa which will open this country to other parts of the world,”

“Once it’s complete, Rwanda will be able to attract international conferences, concerts and training camps for international football teams,”

“We want to offer a platform for Rwandans to train with the help of new infrastructures. Rwanda has potential to shine at world stage but players or athletes need to train hard in order to gain the needed success,” said Mustafa.

With all the activities expected on this village, Mustafa said, “We expect to spend between $130m to $150m on a complete sports village,”

Mustafa also confirmed that construction of the 40-000 seater stadium will begin in late November or early December and will last for 24 months.

“We are confident the stadium will be ready by November 2015. It is hard to believe, but it is true. Normally, the stadium will be complete in 20 months and the four months will be used to test the installation and other basics at the stadium before being handed over to our stakeholders,

“The secret behind our method of work is new technology and discipline. Our shipment has started to arrive in Gahanga, our engineers are working, planning, measuring everything and everything is complete,”

“What is remaining is exploration which will be done by the government such that Babil group can start work on the set land,” added Mustafa.

The new stadium is a requirement for the hosting of the 2016 African Nations Championship (CHAN). In addition to Gahanga sports village, five stadia in the country will also play host to the 2016 Africa Nations Championship [CHAN] finals.

They include; Amahoro stadium, Stade de Kigali, Stade de Rubavu and Stade de Muhanga.

Rwanda was picked to host the prestigious event after deliberations by the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) held in Lubumbashi, DR Congo in 2011.

Rwanda was endorsed to host the 2016 CHAN edition after the country staged two successful youth continental tournaments in a space of three years, including the 2009 U-20 Africa youth championship as well as the U-17 championship in 2011.

Amavubi Stars will start their campaign in the first round facing the winner between Eritrea and Ethiopia in June this year.

Babil Group plan to spend over $130M on Gahanga Sports village