China grants 29 million RMB for the Mao Zedong Stadium Maintenance and Renovation Project in Zanzibar

According to an article from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, in 2013 during President Shein's official visit to Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to finance the Mao Zedong Stadium Maintenance and Renovation Project (or 毛泽东体育场维修改造项目落 or Mao Tse Tung Stadium or Said Khalifa Stadium) in Zanzibar. According to Up Tymes and Daily News reporting, the Chinese government granted 29 million RMB for this project. The total project cost was 15 billion TZS (or $5 million USD) with China covering about 11 billion TZS and the Zanzibar Revolutionary Army covering the remaining 4 billion TZS. On March 20, 2017, a Chinese embassy official and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Tourism, Culture and Sports of Tanzania signed an unspecified supplementary implementation agreement for this project. China Jiangsu Zhengtai Group was the implementing contractor. Works began on May 18, 2017 and were completed on July 6, 2018. The official opening ceremony took place on January 3, 2019. The stadium was first constructed with the assistance of the Chinese government in 1968. The new stadium located near Tunguu and Fumba had a 48,000 person capacity. It had artificial grass, two standard soccer (football) pitches, facilities for basketball, volleyball, table tennis, and a gym.

Additional details

China signed a financing commitment sometime between 2013 and 2017. For now, the commitment year is coded as 2017 which corresponds with the signing of a supplementary agreement. Intent is mixed because the stadium classifies as development but the name of the stadium classifies as representational.

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

9