Mozambique’s Minister of Youth and Sport, Pedrito Caetano, announced on Monday that the ceremony at which the Chinese contractor should have handed over the new National Stadium to the government has been postponed. Caetano, accompanied by his deputy minister and other senior officials of the Ministry, all turned up at the Stadium, built in the outlying Maputo neighbourhood of Zimpeto, clearly expecting the ceremony to take place, as did the large number of journalists in attendance. But nobody from the Chinese side, from the contractor or from the Chinese embassy, was present, although the Chinese have provided the money (about 65 million US dollars) for building what is the largest, and most modern sports facility in the country.Caetano said this debacle “due to the fact that there are some unexpected matters that were not discussed at the time we were working, but once we decide the next date we will communicate it to everyone”. The construction of the National Stadium began on April 28, 2008, and it should have been completed by the first quarter of 2010, a deadline that proved impossible to meet.The inauguration of the stadium, with the capacity to hold 42,000 spectators, was originally scheduled for December 11, but this ceremony (quite separate from the formal handover of the building) was postponed because of the need to consolidate the pitch. No matches can e played there until March or April.Jose Pereira, director of the construction work, also present at the abortive ceremony, said that the National Stadium has been built with quality and its structural soundness is not in any doubt.“We had a laboratory to analyse the materials that were used in the construction, thus both the Mozambican and the Chinese governments were careful to assess all the materials used in the stadium”, said Pereira.
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