A ceremony to inaugurate the new Bafoussam football stadium, situated in Kouekong, a locality on the outskirts of the West regional capital, has been announced for end of April.

Going by sources at the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education, the stadium which is the same in shape and design as that of Limbe, could be inaugurated on April 30 by Bidoung Mkpatt, Minister of Sports.

The minister is expected to be in Bafoussam for the technical handing over of the project before the grand ceremony to officially open it.

Bafoussam-based Racing football club and the U-17 men’s national team are the two sides scheduled to play at the inaugural. After the official opening of the stadium, peripheral works would still go on, according to sports ministry officials.

The construction of a fence around the stadium, parking lots and access ways, are still ongoing. Sources say the roof of the presidential tribune will also be retouched.

“We have learnt lessons from the Limbe Omnisport stadium where when it rains, even officials seated at the presidential tribune are not adequately protected…that’s why we are looking for possibilities of extending the roof over the tribune,” an official was quoted as saying by local french language daily, La nouvelle expression, on Wednesday.

It is said that the idea to construct a football stadium in Bafoussam was hatched since the days of Cameroon’s first president Ahmadou Ahidjo but the idea had literally remained on paper.

Effective work only started in 2009 when government came up with what it termed the “national sports infrastructure development programme.”

The stadium being constructed by a Chinese company is partly funded by a loan granted Cameroon by China.
It is a modern stadium with a 20,000 sitting capacity and has been earmarked by government as one of the stadiums to be used for the 2019 Africa cup of nations that Cameroon is scheduled to host.