By Desmond Tunde Coker
The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) has on Tuesday, July 11, 2023 officially signs a contract with Edel Grass for the construction of four new artificial turf pitches at the Approved School, SLFA Academy, Port Loko Town Field, and Coronation Field in Bo, and also, to uplift the standard of Kono Field and Kenema Town Field.
It could be recalled that the SLFA contractors have inspected fields in Sierra Leone and are prepared for four new pitches projects. The pitch construction company Edel Grass on Monday, July 10 successfully concluded the final field inspection exercise ahead of the commencement of the numerous pitch construction projects in Freetown, Port Loko, Kono, Bo, and Kenema.
A team of senior SLFA officials led by the Vice President 1 Harold Nat-Johnson accompanied the Netherland-based contractors- Mark Jonkers and team- and supervised the exercise to ensure the full readiness of the sites as the construction work gets underway.
The said projects, upon completion, will see a full package of a state-of-the-art artificial turf, floodlight, perimeter fence, 100KVA generator, and 100-seater pavilion at the SLFA Academy Field, Approved School Field, Port Loko Town Field, and Bo Coronation Field. Also, part of the projects, the Kono artificial turf pitch will be renovated with a perimeter fence and floodlights while the Kenema Town Field, which is already fenced, will be upgraded with standard floodlights.
Sierra Leone is one of the countries that has terrible pitches which has resulted in FIFA banning the country from hosting home matches.