President Joko Widodo inaugurates the North Sumatra Main Stadium in Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, Tuesday (10/15). (Photo by: Bureau of Press, Media, and Information (BPMI) of the Presidential Secretariat)
Following his working visit to Aceh province, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his entourage departed by the Presidential Aircraft Indonesia-1 from Sultan Iskandar Muda International Airport, Aceh province, Tuesday (10/15) at around 04.00 PM Western Indonesia Time, for Kualanamu International Airport, North Sumatra province, to continue his working visit to North Sumatra province.
Starting his working visit in the province, President Jokowi inaugurated the North Sumatra Main Stadium in Deli Serdang regency, Tuesday afternoon.
This magnificent stadium was previously used for the closing ceremony of the 21st National Sports Week 2024 hosted jointly by Aceh and North Sumatra.
“Today, North Sumatra has a very large and very luxurious stadium, as we see this afternoon. Previously, it was used for the closing of the last National Sports Week. As the stadium is still new, we see everything here is new and in good condition,” said the President.
President Jokowi stated that the stadium has a seating capacity of up to 25,000 spectators and was constructed with a budget of Rp587 billion, sourced from the State Budget. He emphasized the importance of immediately transferring management to a competent entity to ensure the stadium’s proper maintenance and upkeep.
“This stadium should be handed over to football clubs in North Sumatra, either PSMS, PSDS or others, to ensure its proper maintenance,” he said.
The President also shared his experience seeing several sports facilities in other areas that became unkempt after being used for the National Sports Week. He emphasized that this should not happen to the North Sumatra Main Stadium.
“We’ve learned from our experience in other provinces that many sports facilities turned unkempt after being built and used to host the National Sports Week. I’ve seen many sports facilities, not just one, two, or three, turn unkempt because no one uses them and maintains them any more after the event. Don’t let that happen in North Sumatra,” stressed the President.
Furthermore, President Jokowi urged the continuous maintenance and utilization of this stadium for the development of sports talents in North Sumatra and as a center for coaching talented young athletes.
“We hope that this magnificent and luxurious stadium will always be maintained and used, so that it will always provide great benefit for sports development in North Sumatra,” he concluded. (TGH/DNS)
