Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Awad Ibrahim Elbarasi has said the country plans to invest 400M dinars ($314M) this year on "developing stadiums for its staging of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations," according to SOCCEREX. Elbarasi’s comments come after the "Libyan government this month revealed plans to develop a new 60,000-seat stadium in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura as part of its efforts to host the Cup of Nations." A second stadium for the tournament, seating 23,000 fans, will be developed in Misrata, "while games will also be played in Benghazi." Elbarasi said, "Just like Nelson Mandela unified South Africa, we hope to unify Libya under this cup. We will resume construction of these stadiums in June and have asked the government for a budget of 400M dinars to build 11 stadiums this year.” Libya "was originally scheduled to host this year’s edition of the Cup of Nations" before the Confederation of African Football made the decision to switch the event to South Africa in Sept. '11 amid security concerns (SOCCEREX, 4/19).
