A downpour has caused havoc at the Sunyani Coronation Park, causing extensive destruction to the VIP and other spectator stands at the park. 

The rains, which followed incessant storm and lightning in the Sunyani Municipality, started around 1700 hours, Saturday March 2, 2024, and ripped-off about 60 percent of the entire roofing of stands at the park.

According to the Bono Regional Secretariat of the National Sports Authority (NSA), it required about GHC60,000 to re-roof, and put the park in a better condition to host the on-going Ghana Premier League matches.

In an interview with Sompa FM in Sunyani in Sunyani, Mr Foster Kwame Opoku Boakye, the Bono Regional Director of the NSA, said mostly affected were the VIP as well as the stands at the left and right wings of the park.

Experts estimate that the re-roofing requires 150 pieces of wood (2X4), 30 pieces of facial boards, 25 packets of roofing sheets, 30 boxes of roofing nails, 10 boxes of four inches of nail and a box of three inches of nail.

Mr Boakye said the seats at the park also needed urgent replacement, and therefore, called for support from the general public.

Describing the incident as heartbreaking, Mr Ransford Antwi, a popular football administrator, indicated the region needed a standard sports stadium, and called on the government to consider that and build one.

 “It’s sad our region which prides itself as a center of football with many football legends including Kwasi Owusu, Agyemang Gyau, Dan Owusu Atta Kwame, Atta Kwame, Adasi Fofie, George Arthur, Kwasi Appiah, Ntow Gyan and Sarah Mensah doesn’t have a sports stadium”, he stated.

The government must, therefore, see it as a priority and build a standard sports stadium to promote sports in the region, Mr Antwi stated.

Meanwhile, Mr Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, the Member of Parliament for Sunyani East has since visited and inspected the level of damage at the Coronation Park, and pledged GHC20,000 to support its rehabilitation.

Sompaonline.com/K.Peprah