Jaber International Stadium Redvelopements
A friend of mine who’s working with the team handling the preparations of Jaber Al Ahmad International Stadium (AKA Jaber Stadium) official opening has invited me for a tour at the stadium today. I always heard and read controversial news about Jaber stadium but actually never had the chance to visit it before so I decided to go and see if the issues were rectified, it was planned to officially open on the 17th February but opening was postponed for a reason that I don’t know yet. I arrived in the evening at Gate#8 and I noted there were 13 gates, I saw there were tickets kiosks scattered around the parking area which is good idea for buying tickets and preventing future congestion.
A short brief about Jaber stadium before I take you on a tour; it’s a multi-purpose stadium in Ardhiyah area and can be seen from 6th Ring Road, it was completed in 2009 but there were many issues and claims regarding the structural integrity but thankfully they were resolved, it’s constructed in 4 levels and has a capacity of 68,000 seated spectators and 6,000 car parkings which makes it the largest stadium in Kuwait.
I recall there was a problem with the turf a few months ago but I saw that this was also resolved. There were many volunteers working hard to get the stadium ready for the opening, they said the new opening date is between February 25th and March 5th. As a civil engineer, I loved how the stadium was designed yet I expected it to be bigger though it looked beautiful from every angle. My first remark was regarding the absence of multi-car parking because clearly 6,000 parking are not adequate for 68,000 spectators but they said the parking area was expanded to reach around 50,000 parkings, also I wish if they start marking the emergency evacuation exits. I walked around the stadium and checked the facilities, there were two large LED screens fixed, a royal and VIP platforms in addition to normal platforms, specialized boxes for media, large speakers, and solar panels that they say are used in case of power failure.
They said there will a huge festive event for the grand opening (laser and fireworks show) and that there will be an international football team coming to Kuwait for a friendly match (most likely Brazil like I said before) and that there will also be an event to break Guinness World Record by making the biggest flag in the world. Did I mention that I went to the top of the stadium? The view was spectacular.
I generally liked how Jaber Stadium looked but there were small shortcomings related to the design and some of the facilities (no Olympic swimming pool, small toilets…etc.) but I suppose they can be addressed, I’m defintely going to visit Jaber stadium for the opening event.
