Four-way AFCON bid battle begins
Mqondisi Dube | Saturday May 27, 2023 06:00
Against odds after being abandoned by Namibia at the last minute, Botswana has soldiered on and the bid document, initially valued at P65million, was deposited in Cairo, Egypt, the CAF headquarters.
Under the co-hosting arrangement, Botswana was supposed to pay nearly P40million while Namibia was going to remit the remaining balance.
The two countries engaged South African consultants, Ruben Reddy Architects for the facilities audit report, which cost nearly P3million and the production of the bid book.
The consultants had a month to prepare the document and had to fast track the process.
The Botswana technical bid chairperson, Ashford Mamelodi, was elated that the country was able to submit the document. “As far as Ruben Reddy Architects, our lead consultant is concerned, we could not have asked for more, and for them to deploy enough resources to pull it off in one month has simply been amazing. Speaking for my Bidco team, we are more than satisfied,” Mamelodi said this week.
The bid book is in three volumes and is about 600 pages. Mamelodi said the document was delivered to Cairo in a special box. In a statement, the bid committee said the document, delivered by hand through email, sells the Botswana story, including the country’s history up to the present status. “Having submitted the bid book, the next big assignment for the bid committee is to lobby the approximately 22 members of the CAF executive board, with whom the decision to host lies,” the committee said through the statement.
The Botswana Football Association (BFA) president, Maclean Letshwiti is a member of the CAF executive committee. Botswana faces a four-way competition to land the 2027 competition, with Egypt, Algeria and a joint bid involving Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Egypt has hosted the tournament four times since 1957 while Algeria got the nod once. The rest of the countries have never hosted the competition. Hosting of the AFCON finals has divided opinion, with proponents pointing to guaranteed returns, while those opposing cite costs and priorities. Botswana will need in excess of P10billion to upgrade infrastructure, including building new stadiums. Mamelodi told Mmegi Sport that he could not reveal the costs of hosting yet. The winning bid will be announced in September after the CAF committee inspects the potential hosts between June and July. This will give Botswana tight timelines to complete the needed upgrades.
“It is expected that CAF will announce the winner before the end of September 2023, giving the successful bidder just under four years to prepare for the continental showpiece,” the committee said.