YAOUNDE – The official funerals organized in honour of the Cameroonian international footballer Marc-Vivien Foé recently deceased have allowed the many people who attended the burial ceremony last Monday to discover the multi-sports complex located at Nkomo, suburbs of Yaoundé. This imposing realization raised by a bold architecture will undoubtedly remain largest work of the regretted Lion, whose high facts in many fields from the real estate to the humanitarian should not be discounted.
All those who came to say a final goodbye to Foé were likely struck by the impressive aspect of the structure set up by expert hands according to code’s of practice and the technique as they crossed the fence giving on the complex, wherever they came from. What strikes the visitor from the start is in fact the square pylons that give to the building a feeling of a cathedral. Then, it is the gigantic roof in half-circle posed on powerful metal reinforcements which attracts the glance.
Built on an operated area of 2.5 hectares on a total of 6 hectares, the construction of the sporting complex located few steps from a multifamily apartments complex belonging to the Real estate Company of Cameroon (Sic) started 18 months ago in the middle of the rain forest. With the edge of the vast ground cleared up by bulldozers and whose development is in hand one can see enormous tree trunks still standing upright.
According to Donald Bloemen, the Belgian technical assistant in charge of the coordination of work, the complex was designed to shelter several infrastructures relating to the sport, lodging, relieving, etc. The principal building comprises two levels: at the ground floor a covered gymnasium comprising a swimming pool already dug and cemented to the Olympic standards, 4 sauna, 2 Jacuzzi, a Hammam, 4 massage rooms, 1 weight room, 1 store, 1 infirmary with room of the care, the cloakrooms for women and the toilets. The second floor is reserved essentially for the offices. Around the gymnasium, other infrastructures are envisaged: a hotel of about thirty rooms, three tennis courts, a football field with bleachers and squashes devoted to the children. The investments projected are estimated at 1.5 billion CFA.
« Through this complex, I discovered a new dimension of the man who beyond the player had ambitions of large builder for his country. While waiting for its completion, this private realization is undoubtedly a premier on the continent if one excludes South Africa « , observes Wandji Alain, architect in service with the ministry for Town planning and the Habitat.
If one believes the project contractor, Most of the work on the covered gymnasium is 90 % completed. 70% of the necessary equipment for the completion of the project is available. Approximately, 38 % of the infrastructures planned for the sporting complex are carried out. Much way thus remains to be made. According to a worker having required anonymity, Foé counted much on the impacts of the Confederations Cup to resume the construction. The fate has decided differently « the work is impressive but the concern is that it might not be continued. We wish that the government can continue the job started by Foé through foundations for example « , suggests Justine Bloemen, mayor of Makénéné, 200 km out of Yaoundé. Same sound of bell from the representative of the Foé family which at the time of the mass of requiem celebrated Monday morning in the presence of the Cameroonian President Paul Biya wished that the work and the memory of Foé be preserved through the completion of a complex already considered as a center for training and improvement.
All agree to think that the sporting Complex Marc-Vivien Foé (baptized after his death) will remain the final will of a man of conviction concerned about spreading happiness around him. In a country which in spite of its sporting performances on the international scene, misses sporting infrastructures cruelly. This single realization is the most invaluable heritage one can bequeath to the Cameroonian youth, which will find there a dream space for the development of its natural potential. In homage to the great builder, an imposing mausoleum will be built in the enclosure of the complex.
By Jean-Marie Jahmane
English version by: Essomba
N.B: It is advisable to specify that the name « Foé » was given to the project after the brutal death of its initiator, who faithful to the modesty anchored in his personality, only called it by the simple name of « Complex Sportif de Yaoundé ». Foé mausoleum in photo.
