Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium
| Uwanja wa Taifa (Swahili) | |
Aerial view of the stadium
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 Tanzania National Main Stadium
Location in Tanzania
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| Address | Taifa Road |
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| Location | Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania |
| Coordinates | 6°51′13″S 39°16′26″E / 6.853563°S 39.273821°ECoordinates: 6°51′13″S 39°16′26″E / 6.853563°S 39.273821°E |
| Public transit | Kurasini Station (4 km) |
| Owner | Tanzanian Government |
| Operator | Tanzania Football Federation |
| Type | Multi-purpose stadium |
| Capacity | 60,000 |
| Field size | 105 × 68 m |
| Surface | Artificial turf |
| Scoreboard | Yes |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 2005 |
| Opened | 2007 |
| Construction cost | $56 million |
| Architect | WMS Architects (South Africa) |
| Main contractors | Beijing Construction Engineering Group |
| Tenants | |
| Tanzania national football team, Simba SC, Young Africans FC | |
Tanzania National Main Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It opened in 2007 and was built adjacent to Uhuru Stadium, the former national stadium. It hosts major football matches such as the Tanzanian Premier League and home matches of the Tanzania national football team.
With 60,000 seats it is the eleventh largest stadium in Africa and the largest stadium in Tanzania. It is owned by the Tanzanian Government. The stadium was built by Beijing Construction Engineering Group at a cost of $56 million.
In 2000, President Benjamin Mkapa promised to build a state of the art stadium before the end of his tenure in 2005; saying that it was shameful for the country not to have a modern arena. In January 2003, the government announced a tender for the construction of a new stadium to replace the dilapidated Uhuru Stadium. Sports Minister Juma Kapuya said that the government had set a budget of $60 million and eleven companies had bid for the project.
In 2004, Vinci Construction, a French company won the tender with a bid of $154 million. Under pressure from the Bretton Woods Institutions, Tanzania reluctantly abandoned the project as it had received debt relief under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Program. Deborah Brautigam in her book The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa writes, "To the Bretton Woods Institutions, building a modern stadium in a poor country with an annual per capita income of $330 seemed a bit like the Romans building a new Coliseum with the barbarians camped outside the city wall."
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Wikipedia