The contractor hit the ground on Wednesday 9th January 2012 for the facelift of the Moi Stadium in Kisumu to international standards. The project is part of the FIFA Goal Project and is aimed at bringing life to sporting activities in the western Kenya region.

The Ksh. 100 million project is funded by the international football federation Fifa and the Kenyan government through the ministry of Sports. Fifa has contributed Ksh. 50 million which will be used for the laying of the artificial turf while the Ksh.50 million from the Kenyan government will be used to for the refurbishment of the perimeter wall and other renovation works. 
The Fifa Goal Project has been given to international contractors Greenfield Sports Turf Systems of the Netherlands. This is after architectural and design work was finalized by the Fifa Goal Project consultant Cyrille Betemps late last year.

Over the last 20 years, the Moi Stadium in Kisumu has deteriorated to a pathetic stack. This was worsened by the dump

site right outside the stadium. There was a commitment from the Kisumu Town council last year to have the dump site relocated to somewhere else where separation of the trash will be done to facilitate recycling.

The project which is being supervised by Fifa and the Ministry of Sports is expected to be completed within six months. It is expected that the Stadium will host this year’s Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (CECAFA) and that even Harambee Stars will play some of their qualification matched here.

Most of the works included in the project are the excavation of the current pitch and building a new surface, smoothen of the ground and creation of drainages. After that there will be laying of the artificial turf, expansion of the perimeter wall, fixing the terraces and renovating the changing rooms. Others include installation of floodlights, building the pavilion and upgrading the surrounding track to international Metric System.

The laying of the artificial turf had been delayed citing security reasons because the perimeter wall had not been completed. It is claimed that the contractor did a shoddy job for the perimeter wall and has been asked to account for the spending of the Ksh. 50 million.

The contractor is working hand-in-hand with engineer Evadie Rukundo and Ben Simba both of Greenfields Sports Turf Systems.

The completion of the renovation works is expected in May, 2012.

Also to be upgraded are Mombasa Municipal Stadium and Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret with Ksh. 58 million and Ksh. 100 million allocated to the works respectively.

Greenfields has a good reputation of having laid artificial turf in other places such as Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Sudan, Congo and Europe.