PCB on verge of acquiring land for Islamabad stadium

From Waheed Khan

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been sitting on a golden opportunity to acquire 29 acres of prime land in Islamabad for the construction of a cricket stadium since March last year.

According to details gathered by this correspondent, last year in March, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) agreed to lease out 29 acres of land behind the Best Western hotel for 33 years renewable by another 66 years to the Pakistan board via the Islamabad Cricket Association (ICA).

The CDA agreed to lease out the land for the construction of the stadium in lieu of an annual rental amount which comes to approximately Rs 258,000 but since March 2005 the board has not bothered to move on this issue and after much delay the matter will now come up for approval at the ad-hoc committee meeting being held on the 18th of this month in Karachi.

"The Chairman Shaharyar Khan has finally given approval for the payment of the rental amount but it has to first be approved by the ad-hoc committee," a source said.

He said initially the CDA had earmarked the land to the ICA but it was not in a position to undertake a big development project and pay the annual rental independently.

"After several rounds of discussions among the ICA, PCB and CDA officials, a memorandum of understanding was drawn up under which the land would be routed to the board with the ICA as partner.

"Under the understanding the PCB will put up the funds for the construction of the new stadium in a prime location of the capital city with the ICA also being given some rights and benefits but the administrative control would be with the board," the source said.

He said recently Shaharyar Khan and Director Cricket Operations Saleem Altaf had also met with CDA officials to finalise details after the long delay over payment of annual rental fees for the land.

"But now it appears as if the PCB will finally acquire the land physically and go about its promise of building a brand new stadium in Islamabad. Which should not be difficult for an organisation like the PCB which has investments of over 200 crore rupees in various banks and other projects," the source stated.

He confirmed that the PCB’s investments were over 200 crores and financially it was a very strong body.

"Given their solid background they can easily acquire soft-term loans against their investment and properties for the construction of the new stadium which is a necessity given that the board owns no property in the twin cities and has to pay a huge rental to the Rawalpindi administration to use the Rawalpindi Stadium for international and domestic matches."

The source said it was because of the strong reserves of the board that the ad-hoc committee now wanted to appoint an internal financial controller to bring about financial transparency and discipline in the board’s daily affairs.

Source: The News

they need stadium in sindh so we can play their even during the winter....not another stadium in punjab!!!
Fix the hyderabad stadium and build a 5 start hotel there!

YAAAAYHHHHHHH>....so Islamabadiz like me won't have to go to Rawalpindi then....oh well i don't live there ....

This new stadium in Islamabad means Rawalpindi stadium would be clsoed down. Doesn't the Rawalpindi city government owns that Pindi stadium

Faisal i agree with u that PCB needs to fix Hydrabad's stadium and try to lure some contractors like hushboo group to build a five star pearl continental hotel since its "ICC's standards." But I do support the idea of building a brand new stadium in Islamabad since its our capital and we need a new and bigger stadiums.

gooood, no body wants to go to Pindi Stadium, residents of RWP and ISB better know the pathetic road of Stadium. It will be good idea to make a stadium in ISB and according to me F-9 Park is best suited for it

lets hope we can get full house crowd in the islamabad stadium and i hope this stadium has all the modern facilities just like the MCG, SCG or lords.

It will be PCB responsibility to make the stadium as big as possible. Becoz in future it wont be possible to make changes in already built structure

i dnt think it would be a smart idea to make the stadium toooo big, the smart move would be to make a stadium of 30 000 ppl cause if they make a stadium of 60 000 ppl and we dnt get a full house crowd it would look really awkward and will cost PCB big money.

i never get 1 thing.....our country is an agriculture based country....then how the hell we cant grow proper grass and have a soft outfield like they do in australia!

They certainly need to build more stadiums in Sindh so Pakistan can then hold matches all the year round without suffering from the weather bug.

we can grow it and bob said it on his website tht we can grow soft outfield and produce good and sporting pitches like australia but i dnt know wat the hell is wrong with our curators. we need a good and qualified curator possibly frm australia, england or SA

we need our stadiums to be big like MCG i.e. with multiple levels (upper level and lower level) reason is because it is more noisy and gives the spectators a better view.....

We need KISSAANS FROM PUNJAB AND SINDH lol

it takes a lot of $$$ to build a stadium like MCG and i m pretty sure we wont get a full house crowd if the stadium has a capacity of 50 - 60 thousand ppl.

the problem is saad i dnt think we will be able to get a full house crowd in any other city but maybe hyderabad but hyderabad does nt has a 5 star hotel.