Once it was a killing field, the site of one of the most notorious massacres in the 1994 genocide. Now, a few miles away from this small patch of land near the Rwandan capital, Kigali, there are plans to build a world-class cricket stadium, with the first phase to be completed by April next year, the 20th anniversary of the killings. It will replace the ground the Rwanda Cricket Association has been using since 2002 located within the grounds of a college in Kicukiro where the massacre took place.

At least 4,000 people were slaughtered in Kicukiro after gathering in a high school they thought would be protected by UN troops. The Belgian blue helmets withdrew after 10 of their colleagues died trying to protect the prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who was assassinated at the start of the bloodletting.

In total, Hutu soldiers and militia slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the genocide.

Now, in a rural valley in Masoro, close to Kigali's eastern boundary, work is due to begin on a cricket ground and a pavilion, sporting a parabolic roof like the curve of a bouncing ball. Tennis courts, a swimming pool, basketball court and gym will be added later – provided the funds come through.

Oli Broom, managing director of the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation, is finalising the purchase of 2.7 hectares (7 acres) for £135,000 from a local businessman.

Broom, a British cricket enthusiast who cycled from the Lord's ground in London to Brisbane, Australia, for the start of the 2010/11 Ashes series, said that Rwanda had a good chance of climbing the cricketing ladder once the stadium was built.

Until then, however, local fans must make do with the most basic facilities for the sport, he said.

"The AstroTurf wicket is torn and so are the nets; it is seriously dangerous," said Broom. "The opening batsman on the national team, Don De Dieu Mugisha, had his two front teeth knocked out when a ball came off the uneven ground. I climbed up Bisoke mountain to raise money for his new teeth and got £500."

The national team, he added, would not play a proper game this year because of the lack of facilities.

"No one wants to come here because of the poor ground and the team can't afford to travel," he said. "They can get to Uganda, but their [Ugandan men's] team is too good and the Rwandans are too proud to play against the Ugandan girls' team."

The game was introduced after thousands of Rwandans, having grown up playing cricket in exile in nearby countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, came home to rebuild their lives after the genocide.

In 1999, a small number of former exiles founded the Rwanda Cricket Association, and in 2003 Rwanda became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council.

There are more than 2,000 regular cricketers in the country with a further 3,000 playing the game in schools, universities and orphanages. The national team plays in the third division of the International Cricket Council Africa and won the championship in 2011, defeating the Seychelles in a playoff. The year before, the U19 girls' team beat Kenya, the regional cricketing power.

The stadium project was the brainchild of Christopher Shale, David Cameron's constituency chairman, who died of a heart attack at the Glastonbury festival at the age of 56 in June 2011. Shale founded Project Umubano (meaning "friendship"), which brought Conservative MPs in to perform volunteering work in Rwanda.

The Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation was established as his legacy, overseen by his sons, Alby and Edo. The foundation counts the British prime minister, the former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell and BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew among its patrons.

Broom said the foundation needed a further £250,000 to complete the £600,000 project.

• This article was amended on 17 February 2013. The new cricket ground will not be in Kicukiro and will not be built on the site of a genocide massacre, as the original article said. The ground the RCA has been using since 2002 is within the grounds of a college in Kicukiro where a genocide massacre took place. Work on the new ground has not yet begun.