BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday performed the groundbreaking ceremony for a Rs 943 crore international cricket stadium at Suryanagar in Anekal taluk of Bengaluru Urban district. This will be the country’s second biggest cricket stadium after Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.
At the same event, jointly organised by the Housing Department and the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB), Siddaramaiah launched the Chief Minister’s ‘Namma Mane’ project by laying the foundation stone for Surya Shine and Surya Divine housing complexes and symbolically handed over sites to those who gave up their land for the housing project.
The CM announced that the government will soon come up with a Games Village at Anekal. “We have paved the way for the comprehensive development of this area in all aspects, including sports, tourism, job creation and economic growth,” he said.
Recalling last year’s stampede at Chinnaswamy Stadium that caused 11 deaths during the celebrations of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s maiden IPL victory, the CM said, “After the incident, we realised the need for an international-level cricket stadium.”
The CM said the Housing Department and KHB, which were only building houses till now, are moving forward with the construction of an 80,000-seat capacity stadium as a vision of progress. “The stadium in Gujarat has a 90,000-seat capacity. This project, when completed, will be India’s second-largest stadium. This will not only boost tourism but also the econom
Siddaramaiah said the stadium will be fully funded by KHB, without any financial assistance from the government. “KHB is estimated to earn Rs 20,000 crore from the sale of vacant sites. Everyone wants to have a roof over their heads. Now that the price of land is increasing, KHB is constructing houses and providing sites at affordable prices to the poor and middle class,” he said.
Besides approval to develop the area, administrative nod has also been given for the construction of a main road via Jigani hobli. Officials will soon start the work, he said.
Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said Anekal MLA B Shivanna and former MP DK Suresh wanted the area developed. “Farmers who gave up their land will get 50% of the sites after development,” he added.
MLA Shivanna said the government, which acquired around 3,000 acres, will give Cauvery water connection to the households. “In today’s programme, we gave site documents to farmers, as well as the people who got the sites through a lottery system. The farmers can now sell the land at double the price. In terms of the stadium, this is being built in an arid region.”