Sierra Leone News: Govt to Rebrand Cricket Facility at Kingtom Ovals

By Desmond Tunde Coker

The Ministry of Works has been charged with the responsibility to do a quantity survey on the Kingtom ovals and present its budget to the Finance Ministry for approval and funding for the construction of the ovals.

This came after the executive and board members of the Sierra Leone Cricket Association visited President Bio at State House recently and updated him about the visit of the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) from England, as they will be having their tour in Sierra Leone which will bring a lot of attention to the country.

The cricket executive told President Bio about the laurels they had won for the country and their upcoming activities including the MCC tour in Sierra Leone.

The Cricket Association informed President Bio, who also double as the Chief Patron of the Sierra Leone Cricket Association, about the poor condition of the two ovals they are using.

They said that they have earmarked a portion of land few years ago at Sussex to construct ovals and build cricket academy to groom young players.

In his responses, the President Bio told the Minister of Sports Ibrahim Nyelenkeh to write to the Ministry of Works to do a quantity survey on the Kingtom ovals and send the budget to the Finance Ministry for approval and subsequent funding.

On July 12, 2019, the Ministry of Works assigned two of their staff from the Engineering Department to do the quantity survey.

The Works Ministry is also to build the stands, the administrative building, dressing rooms, grass the pitch, dig boreholes and provide reserve water tanks.

Despite the survey done, the Works Ministry requested all derelict vehicles be removed from the field to enable them to do the necessary construction work. The construction is expected to complete in November when the MCC team will arrive in Sierra Leone.