Kenya faces 10 mln USD deficit to host IAAF U18 Worlds

Kenya's athletics authorities said Thursday preparations for the IAAF 2017 U18 World Championships are facing turbulence with a deficit of 10 million U.S. dollars.

The CEO of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), Mwangi Muthee, told journalists in Nairobi that the initial budget of 20 million U.S. dollars is not enough after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) proposed major changes on some aspects of the event.

"We premised to host the global event at the 30,000-capacity Nyayo National Stadium but had to switch to the 60,000-seater Kasarani arena following advice from the IAAF hence more funds are required owing to the new developments," Muthee said.

Also in the plan was for athletes to be accommodated at various hotels around the city, but the IAAF recommended the upgrading of a wing at Kenyatta University located not far from the event venue to the level of a three-star hotel to accommodate the youngsters, which further put the strain on resources.

The event, which will be held in July next year is expected to attract over 1,600 athletes from 165 countries for athletes.

Muthee said 7 million dollars will go towards repairing Kasarani Stadium whereas 4 million dollars will be spent to groom the athletes' village at the university to bring it IAAF specifications.

"Time is not on our side. Kenya has been hosted by the world during sporting events since the 1950s and now it is payback time to put something to the world and we cannot afford to make mistakes," he said.

The CEO said Japanese teams from digital stakeholders to the event; Dentsu, Seiko and Canon will visit the country to next Monday to meet the host broadcaster for the event, KBC to discuss broadcasting rights to the games.

He also disclosed that an inspection team from the IAAF will visit in November to inspect the progress achieved so far.

"We are already running behind schedule and we have to pull together to stage a successful event," Muthee said. Endit