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Over one million visitors expected for
CAN 2008
Cape Coast, March 29, GNA - More than one million visitors
from around the world are expected to patronise the Ghana
CAN 2008 football tournament scheduled for next year.
Mr Kwesi Hammond, a member of the Local Organizing Committee
(LOC) of the event, said this during an interaction with the
press at Cape
Coast on Thursday after he had accompanied members of the
Parliamentary
Select Committee on Sports, Youth and Culture, led by its
Chairman, Mr Isaac Asiamah to call on the Central Regional
Minister, Nana Ato Arthur.
The meeting was to deliberate on how best the Region,
particularly Cape Coast, which was to have a standby stadium
to use its facilities such as hotels to benefit from the
tournament.
The member said as part of the tournament, a programme
dubbed “CANFEST” would be mounted with large television
screens mounted at vantage points in all Regional and
District capitals to serve as a “converging point for
spectators to have a communal feel of a stadium
environment”.
Mr Hammond said it was therefore imperative for all
Ghanaians, especially those in Cape Coast not to feel left
out because of the inability of government to provide the
proposed standby stadium, but to take full advantage of the
tournament.
He explained that the venues for the large television
screens would also have restaurants, bazaars, while
“interesting programmes” will also be organized to enable
the various venues showcase their potentials.
Earlier the chairman of the Committee, Mr Asiamah said among
the venues for the event visited so far, “the
Sekondi-Takoradi venue is almost set while works on the
Tamale and Kumasi stadia, as well as works on some three
star hotels under construction were progressing steadily.
Mr Asiamah assured the people of Cape Coast that government
would soon fulfill its promise of providing a modern stadium
complex for the Municipality and urged them to be patient
because it was a top agenda of the government.
Mr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo, a Ranking Member of the Committee
and MP for Wa Central, said as a “citadel of tourism”, the
Central Region had much to offer during the event, and urged
the Regional Coordinating Council to set up a local
committee to plan and “showcase Ghana to the rest of the
world”.
The Regional Minister, Nana Arthur said since football begun
in Cape Coast, it was imperative that a modern stadium was
built in the city and to be as well considered as one of the
venues for the CAN 2008 programme since such an arrangement
was “dear to the chiefs and people of Cape Coast”.
The Parliamentary delegation later visited the site for the
proposed stand-by stadium behind the University of Cape
Coast.
GNA
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