The ground breaking ceremony of the $US1.2 million (K3.6m) project will take place next March. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) will counter fund the project through Minister for Sports Melchior Dare.
ABG and Dare have until January to pull the strings together and complete all the necessary ground work for the project to eventuate.
Chung who is the PNGFA president, OFC president and FIFA vice president, announced in Arawa last week that FIFA is ready to chip in with $US600,000 (K1.8m) and the onus is on ABG to also chip in with another $US600,000 (K1.8m) for the project to get off the ground as soon as possible.
The new Bougainville Soccer Academy at Manetai will see the construction of dormitories, classrooms, gymnasiums and other infrastructures for technical officials such as referee training and related courses.
To show the people and government of Bougainville that he meant business and the soccer academy is not just a fairytale, Chung was accompanied by the head of FIFA development Cyril Liosel from FIFA headquarters in Switzerland.
Loisel thanked the people of Bougainville for the warm traditional welcome accorded to him adding that he will support Chung to make this academy a success. Loisel said the project must get off the ground next January and wanted all stakeholders to participate with FIFA.
Bougainville will become the second place in New Guinea Islands region to get an academy after Kimbe.
Chung said he had considered Bougainville after numerous pleas from Bougainville’s soccer son Joseph Maineke saying he wanted to give something back to Bougainville through the hard work and commitment from Maineke who has been sacrificing his time and volunteering in bringing soccer in Bougainville to this level.
Chung said the other major factor is the costing involved where Bougainvilleans spend a lot of money to go to Lae Soccer Academy for training and courses.