PM attends Steaua Stadium handover ceremony, announces extensive sports facilities building program

The government intends to support a comprehensive program to build sports facilities and training grounds all over the country, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Friday, as he attended the ceremony for the handover of the rebuilt Bucharest Steaua Sports Complex. "The Steaua Stadium has reborn like the Phoenix from the ashes and now features an extremely modern appearance. (...) We hope that the refurbished stadium will host teams capable of European and international performance. I want to congratulate the consortium of three Romanian companies which literally delivered top performance through the construction of this stadium and thus strengthened their business reputation, proving that we have Romanian builders capable to carry out high-quality works for competitive, even low prices. (...) This is indeed a remarkable success of this consortium led by three Romanian companies," said the Prime Minister at the handover of the investment project carried out by the Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration, through the National Investment Company. PM Orban also announced that important Bucharest stadiums such as Dinamo or Giulesti are next for refurbishment. "We also plan to build stadiums not only in Bucharest, but in other county seats - in Timisoara, Iasi, Constanta, Oradea, where planning and design works have already been initiated," the Premier pointed out, adding that the government intends to support a comprehensive program to build sports facilities and training grounds all over the country. "Sport belongs to the fundamentals of education (...), it has a great influence on character education (...) and the time has come to send a clear signal that we must encourage sports activities, the involvement of children, teenagers and youth in performing sports, either through grassroots sports, or by supporting school clubs that can serve as the nursery required by performance sport. Bucharest needs other sports facilities as well, a multipurpose hall at international standards," the Prime Minister went on to say. The event took place in the presence of the Minister of Public Works, Development and Administration, Ion Stefan, Bucharest General Mayor Nicusor Dan, and sports personalities. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalina Matei, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - editor: Simona Klodnischi)