Oceania’s FIFA development officer Glenn Turner spent time at the Fiji FA headquarters in Suva last week and oversaw the signing of the contract, worth nearly FJD three million, by Fiji FA president Dr. MS Sahu Khan.
FIFA will contribute USD 500,000 while the rest of the cost will be met by the Fiji FA. The second Fiji Goal Project – an initiative by FIFA to help national associations around the world improve their facilities – is expected to be completed next year and the inauguration is planned for April.
In addition to the two pitches and accommodation facilities, the new development will also house the association’s headquarters in its second phase.
“This is a milestone for Fiji FA and a wonderful project that we are going to embark on,” Sahu Khan says.
“There were some difficulties which have now been overcome. My gratitude goes to the Minister of Sports and the Fiji Government for assisting us and we are also grateful to the contractor, who had started work in February, and Glenn Turner. Without his work, the project would probably have been cancelled.”
Turner says various factors had to be taken care of before the project was given the green light earlier this year.
“The Fiji project was a bit difficult, you are talking about three years of patience,” he says.
“The first problem was finding the land site and the second was devaluation of the dollar, which was a different story every month. It was a matter of everything needing to be done correctly and Fiji is very lucky to have an architect (Design Hut) and contractor company (Fortech) that have progressed to this stage.
“I’m pleased that we have finally put a signature on the contract.”
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