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Tadious Manyepo

Sports Reporter

CHINHOYI Town Municipality have made enormous progress in upgrading Chinhoyi Stadium and they hope the facility will be ready for Premiership football when the 2020 season finally gets underway.

Black Rhinos want to use the stadium as their home ground.

At one point, the army side felt the authorities were so far, behind schedule, they even shifted focus to Trojan Stadium in Bindura.

They even seconded their personnel to work on areas flagged by the ZIFA First Instance Board who condemned the Trojan stadium in March.

However, the Chinhoyi municipality have been working round the clock to repair their stadium and this has impressed Black Rhinos officials.

The security wall, ablution facilities, drainage system, sitting bays and the playing surface have all been polished up.

Rhinos officials were invited to witness progress at the stadium and give guidance about how certain areas can be improved.

Club secretary-general, Edward Mutukwa, says they are happy with the progress they have seen at Chinhoyi Stadium.

“I have every reason to believe that our team will use Chinhoyi Stadium at the start of the season,” Mutukwa said.

“The municipality had delayed in addressing some shortcomings at the stadium but the fact that they pulled all the requisite resources together, and started refurbishing the facility, means they will be able to complete the process well before the season is finally allowed to kick off.”

Chinhoyi Town public relations manager, Tichaona Mlauzi, said work was still in progress and the authority were following a template from the ZIFA FIB.

“We have attended to the changing rooms, perimetre wall and fence, constructed a tunnel linking the change rooms and the pitch,’’said Mlauzi.

“We have also done some tremendous work on the playing surface.

“We are targeting to fully conform with the requirements, as set by the ZIFA First Instance Board. We have the requirements and we will work towards meeting all those requirements.

“Black Rhinos have indicated they want to use the stadium for their home matches next season, which is a vote of confidence on our part.

“We, therefore, had to reciprocate the move by one of the biggest clubs in Zimbabwe and provide the standard facilities to enable that to happen.”

The stadium is also home to Northern Region Division One returnees Chinhoyi Stars.