Ghana company kicks off One Constituency, One Artificial Turf program

Wembley Sports Complex (WSC), a privately owned Ghanaian Company with marked experience in the construction and management of artificial football pitches in Ghana is set to construct artificial football pitches in all the 270 constituencies in the country.

The project will be sponsored by OmniBnak and its subsidiary Union Capital

Dubbed “One Constituency, One Artificial Turf,” the national project is expected to free the country from its over-reliance on grass pitches due to inconsistent rainfall patterns.

The project would kickstart in June 2017 and expected to be completed in 2019.

Described as a possible revolution in the sports infrastructure of the country, the project is envisaged to help identify and nurture sports talents in all parts of the country.

The project, when completed, would provide artificial pitches with floodlights and other ancillary facilities such as standard changing rooms, multipurpose courts for basketball, volleyball, gymnasium, handball, netball, running tracks with a target of transforming nationwide sports infrastructure by 2019.

Apart from providing a ripe avenue for the identification and grooming of potential sports talents, the facilities would also serve as an opportunity for keep-fit groups and individuals to have access to state-of-the-art training facilities.

Wembley Sports Complex (WSC) has the vision of extending the facilities to every district of the country in the nearby future as part of efforts aimed at maximizing the sporting potentials of the country.

The project is also expected to thrill Ghanaian footballers plying their trade outside the country, especially in Europe, who are apprehensive of training on the pitches in the country due to their unfriendly nature and the propensity to cause harm when using them.

Already, renowned football stars such as Stephen Appiah, Mohammed Polo, Gargo Mohammed, Augustine Arhinful, Emmanuel Armah Senegal, Baffoe Gyan and Togolese national team captain, Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor, have endorsed the project describing it as a novelty that would come with more opportunities for sports development.

Apart from football activities, the facility is expected to provide room for boxing bouts, receptions for all occasions, funerals and thereby help cut down on cost for residents in the constituencies during such functions.

Additionally, the ‘ One Constituency, One Artificial Turf’ project is expected to generate economic benefits to local governments.

The economic benefits of the project can also play an important role in policy-makers’ decisions regarding zoning, restrictions on land-uses, government purchase of lands for parks and similar initiatives.

The WSC is a privately owned Ghanaian company with tremendous experience in the construction and management of artificial football pitches in Ghana having put up the first modern sports complex in one of Accra’s densely populated communities in Kotobabi in 2014 popularly known as the ‘Kotobabi Wembley Sports Complex’ (KWSC).

Black Stars Skipper, Asamoah Gyan has contracted the WSC to construct a similar edifice worth over USD$200,000 for his alma mater, Accra Academy which is about 90 per cent complete.

Board members of the WSC include Mr Philip Oti Mensah, MD Omnibank, Mr Robert Coleman- Chief Executive Officer of WSC, Mr Ernest Ofori Asamoah- Managing Director of Union Capital and Nana Aba Anamoah, News Editor of GHOne TV.

The rest are Mr Julius Adjabeng, legal representative for Gyan Group of Companies, Mr Kwasi Taylor, a businessman, Professor Robert Hinson, a lecturer at the University of Ghana and Mr Tony Bebli, media co-ordinator for the project.

Corporate institutions that have embraced the project include Zoomlion who have agreed to be the official waste management company, Omnibank as official bankers with McDan serving as the official shipping company, Millenium Insurance as the official insurer and Union Capital coming in as the official investment company.