President William Ruto commissioned the construction of the Talanta Sports City Stadium with a groundbreaking ceremony on March 1, 2024.
The head of state was flanked by Ministry of Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba and his Defense counterpart Aden Duale among other dignitaries.
“The construction of the 60, 000 customized football design at the Jamhuri grounds dubbed Talanta Sports City, officially kicked off with groundbreaking ceremony led by President William Ruto,” said the Ministry of Sports in a statement.
China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has been selected as the contractor for the engineering, procurement, and construction of the Stadium.
President Ruto said it will be a modern infrastructural masterpiece with state-of-the-art equipment, to be completed in December 2025.
Reflecting on its unique design, CS Ababu noted that the stadium oozes a distinct Kenyan flavor curated to reflect the very best of Kenyan culture.
According to Ababu, the stadium will accommodate 60,000 spectators and will be a customized football design, tailored for soccer, rugby, and elite concerts. It will also provide parking of up to 3,000 vehicles.
“It is a compact edifice curated to accentuate electric passionate atmosphere that will always hand the Kenyan team that crucial 12th man advantage for every home game and is in sync with the green agenda,” marveled CS Ababu.
Talanta Sports City Stadium Features
Additionally, the CS noted that the government paid close attention to renewable energy.
In turn, the government opted to make deliberate effort to fuse this development with botanical gardens and green spaces stadia.
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On the other hand, the stadium is set to tick all FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF) requirements.
Ababu further disclosed that the stadium will be a tech savvy facility designed for top level live TV broadcast.
It will also feature Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and goal line technology, comparable to the very best stadiums in the world.
CS Ababu added that his Ministry had looked beyond the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027 in designing the stadium, buoyed by the potential of the stadium to become a key economic hub.
While commissioning its construction, President Ruto reiterated that his government was investing in sports and talent development for the benefit of Kenya’s youth.
“We are investing in sports and talent development so that our youth can monetize their skills and expertise.
The ongoing upgrading of our facilities will turn Kenya into a global sports powerhouse and make the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations a memorable event,” he said.
CS Namwamba further retaliated that compared to other similar projects, based on cost analysis and the cost by unit, the stadium is way cheaper than those other stadia.
Contractor
The contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is a prominent engineering and construction firm established in 1979 in China.
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It is headquartered in Beijing and stands as one of the largest subsidiaries of the Fortune Global 500 company, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC).
Besides the contract to construct the 60,000-seater Talanta Sports City Stadium, CRBC has successfully completed various projects including the construction of the 472 km-long Nairobi-Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
It is also the company behind the construction of the Nairobi Expressway, the Nairobi Southern and Northern Bypasses, and it is also handling the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) project among others.
