The resumption of construction works at the Paul Biya Stadium by the Magil company on December 03, 2019 has not radically improved things on the ground. Instead, works have come to a stand still for the last four months since to the precious company, Piccini was coerced to hand over the construction of the stadium to Magil.
Some media men have described the situation of the Olembe stadium as a tragedy that is continuing. After the termination of Piccini’s contract on December 03, 2019 by the client (Minister of Sports and Physical Education) for the benefit of the Canadian company Magil, it was only believed that the delivery of this infrastructure which is scheduled to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the African Cup of Nations (Can) was going to be done within the deadlines prescribed by the African Football Confederation (Caf). That is, especially after the soothing speech of the manager of Magil, Franck Ma-thière during the handover in December 2020.
However, till date, things are happening at less than snail pace. “In fact, work is at a standstill here. Nothing has genuinely changed since Piccini’s ouster” a source at the stadium disclosed.
“The employees of the Magil company confide that their boss has been on vacation in Thailand for some time while they are trying to get out of the difficulties he has created for them by taking on a site the complexity of which he had not correctly assessed” another source told Actu news.
“They need to convince us that they have the required equipment, money and capacity to undertake such a gigantic construction.
Journalist, Ghislain Onguene, journalist heard from a source who said “we are seeing a feeble presence of some workers who run around the site without any real precise tasks.
The only work done there is to water the annex stadium and nothing else. At the time of Piccini, there were 50 trucks per day which made shuttles for the related works, but today, one does not even see a concrete mixer. A few days ago, some metal structures were dismantled. For the moment, we don’t know the reason. ”
Regression
The situation seems to be going from bad to worse with regard to the denunciation made by Piccini on February 21 last through correspondence addressed to Ministry of Pyhysical Education, MINSEP accusing Magil of “theft and sabotage”.
“The disappearance of the parts of the metal structures of the facade would be catastrophic! Indeed without these parts, the facade will not be able to be closed and the lack of watertightness would be absolutely damaging for the deadlines, especially at the approach of the rainy season. Redoing the missing parts and transporting them will take at least three months ” the souce lamented.
In addition, the act of total demolition of the playing area of the main stadium by Magil by bulldozing the draining layer as well as the peripheral drainage channels, work however smarcks of regression.
Meanwhile, according to another source who requested anonymity in a disclosure to Actu, “after choosing Magil to continue the work, the client, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi expected Magil to prefinance the finishing of the infrastructure. But the Canadian company would not accept for lack of means. Magil therefore turned to Piccini, who had equipment in place offer him subcontractor role. The offer was rejected by the Italian company.
It is for this reason that Piccini brought the following details to the attention of the President of the Republic on December 20, 2019, in a petition which, partly read:
“I cannot conclude without bringing to your attention that this Canadian company (Magil editor’s note) according to our information has neither the financing of said project, nor the ability to meet the deadlines of our project ”. As of press time, all attempts to reach those responsible for Magil have been unsuccessful.
Source: Actu Cameroun. Addional writing by thevoicenews.net.