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Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter—
THE rolling out of the much awaited tartan track at White City Stadium finally took place yesterday with the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda and five Permanent Secretaries witnessing the historic event. The whole process is expected to be complete by December 2 to allow experts from the International Association of Athletics Federation to carry out their inspection.

There have been fears that the stadium, venue for athletics, might not be ready for the Games due to the continued delay in arrival of the tartan track material.

“We are there. I am satisfied with the state of preparedness, we are 90 percent ready and as you saw at White City when we launched the whole process of laying of the first part that makes the tartan track, said Sibanda when he later addressed the media at Barbourfields Stadium.

The Chief Secretary who was making his second tour of the facilities in exactly two months, said he was extremely happy with what he saw during his tour.

When the entourage visited White City Stadium, workers were busy erecting the regupol layer, which is the first part of the tartan track with the next stage being that of putting a seal at the top of the regupol and then the chips to finish the whole process. They were also told that all the tartan track materials for the main stadium was now in the country and that part of the material for the warm up pitch was still in South Africa while the other was reportedly stuck at the border.

The entourage included five Permanent Secretaries, George Charamba (Media, Information and Broadcasting Services), George Mlilo (Local Government, Public Works and National Housing), Thokozile Chitepo (Sport, Arts and Culture), Patson Mbiriri (Energy and Power Development) and Munacho Munodawafa (Transport and Infrastructural Development). Also present were members of the local organising committee led by deputy chairperson Nyarai Sibanda and chief executive officer Elkanar Dube.

Said the Chief Secretary: “As you also heard that whatever was the issue at the border will be taken care of. Through our intervention we will make sure that those materials arrive in the country tomorrow.”

He also expressed satisfaction with the accommodation standards at the Games Village, Hillside Teachers’ College which will accommodate all the athletes and officials from the 11 participating countries.

“These Games will leave a huge legacy to the City of Bulawayo, we must see them as the beginning and resurgence of Bulawayo because after these Games, this City will never be the same. We applaud the vision of President Mugabe who brought these Games to Bulawayo,” said Sibanda.

In a tour that took close to nine hours, the delegation toured all the eight venues with their last stop being at Drill Hall Police Station where there are mass display of background books to be used for the opening and closing ceremonies.

At the Drill Hall, the delegation was told that there were 1,820 books that will be used to display the message, “Best Wishes” in three languages, English, French and Portuguese during the opening ceremony to be presided upon by President Mugabe.

During the country’s Independence in 1980, 2,200 mass display books were used while 5,000 books were used during the official opening of the 1995 All Africa Games.

Meanwhile, Botswana is expected in the country on Sunday, becoming the first of the 10 countries to come for the Games.