About 58% of the construction work on the stadium has been completed. Initially, the design of the stadium was similar to that of stadiums in Molepolole, Maun and Masunga in Botswana, but it has been changed to meet World Cup standards. The capacity of the new stadium has now been reduced from 30,000 to 27,000.
The facility is being built at a cost of BWP175 million ($26.8 million approx). The delay in completion is attributed to lack of skilled manpower in various fields such as bricklaying and carpentry.
As Francistown is the epi-center of the northern region, officials expect the clubs from Zimbabwe and Zambia to utilize the new stadium. The government is optimistic that some countries coming for the 2010 World Cup will camp in Botswana.
Once completed, the stadium will be used mostly for football matches and will host the home matches of TAFIC – a football club from Botswana, based in Francistown.
