IT should not come as a shock that the tartan track at the 50, 000 seater Heroes National Stadium has been damaged.
Why do I say so? This is looking at a number of activities that the US$94million facility has hosted from the time the Chinese finished construction the ultra modern stadium.
Rather questions should be asked as to why it took this long to realise that the track has been damaged and the biggest losers are the runners who would have made good use of the track to complement the other one at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC).

. Mwale

Sports Minister Vincent Mwale on Wednesday toured the stadium and discovered the damage to the tartan track and said his ministry needs to look for money to work on the track or rather replace it.
But really who is to blame for allowing the matter reach this far? Did the engineers from the Ministry of Works, who have been working closely with the Chinese contractor, advice against such issues?
The biggest problem is that it has been really difficult to know if the stadium has been officially opened or not despite it hosting a number of functions ranging from the Golden Jubilee celebrations to the inauguration ceremony, women’s day event as well as various other church programmes.
My immediate worry whenever the stadium was/is hosting functions was the state of the pitch and the surrounding facility-like the running track.
With the Zambia soccer team having only played two friendly matches at the venue-against Ivory Coast and Sudan, the team has not really benefitted from the structure apart from having some training sessions.
I believe the Zambia Amateur Athletics Association (ZAAA) are the worst hit as their hopes of training their athletes using such a once magnificent running track have been shattered and worse still bidding to host an international competition.
So rather than the Minister expressing sadness at the damaged track, he should equally take to task the responsible officials who allowed various functions to take place at the stadium including bringing in of heavy vehicles.
If this is not done, I can assure that we shall continue having functions that will in the end continue to damage our infrastructure which is built at a very great cost.
I vividly remember that some time back we were told some stadia committee would be put in place to look into such matters but I guess nothing has been done because we could not have had such a situation.
Hope external works will be completed early at the site to enable it function to full capacity so that even other fundraising ventures can start running like the proposed shopping mall, and other business opportunities that earn income to take care of the stadium.
Lastly, wishing Zesco United and Power Dynamos all the best as they take on AS Kaloum and CF Mounana in the 2015 CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup first round first leg matches respectively.
The two clubs must realise that the competitions have started getting tougher and the onus will be on Zesco and Power to utilise their chances well as home advantage no longer counts in modern football.
Wishing you all a wonderful sporting weekend especially that the MTN-FAZ Super Division League kicks off tomorrow with various matches across the country. This year’s league promises a lot of thrills especially with legendary ‘Mighty’ Mufulira Wanderers coming back in the top elite. For comments: eliaschipepo@gmail.com