KOCHI: The general council of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA), which met here on Saturday, has decided to lease out the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor here, to Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) for a period of 30 years.
As per the agreement, the KCA will deposit an amount of `1 crore in the GCDA account as security. The cricket body will also pay an annual lease amount of `10 lakh every year to the GCDA. The lease amount will be increased by `50,000 annually. Along with the lease amount, rental will be paid by KCA before every cricket match to be played at the stadium.
The KCA will also have to pay `10,000 as rent every month for using the office facility at the stadium. The monthly rent for the office will be hiked by 5 per cent annually. Meanwhile, the GCDA has also given the nod for the Kerala Football Association (KFA) to use the stadium for conducting football games for a period of 20 years. “All the matches, whether cricket or football, can only be played after obtaining the permission of the GCDA. The cricket and football matches will be scheduled with the mutual consent of both the governing bodies, to avoid any date clashes,” GCDA chairman N Venugopal said. As per the agreement, the maintenance of the ground will be the responsibility of KCA. Before every match, the KCA must obtain the sanction from the GCDA and for conducting international football matches, both KFA and KCA should finalise the dates after consulting each other. The KCA had filed the application for obtaining the stadium on lease almost a year ago. Accordingly, a committee comprising MLAs Benny Behanan and Hibi Eden, Akbar Badusha, all members of the executive committee and the GCDA chairman was formed.
The GCDA will also sign an agreement with the KFA to officially hand over the Ambedkar Stadium here to the latter for conducting football matches. As per the agreement, the KFA will be responsible for the maintenance of the stadium and installation of floodlights and turf. The stadium, after renovation, will be used for the practice sessions of teams that will play in the Under-17 World Cup scheduled to be held in India in 2017. The annual rent for the Ambedkar Stadium will be `50,000, which will be increased by 15 per cent every three years. The GCDA will also be paid 20 per cent of the total revenue generated from each match that will be played at the venue.
‘Test’ Hopes Brighten
With the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) set to take over the Nehru Stadium, on lease for a period of 30 years, the chances of Kochi hosting Test cricket in the future have brightened. ‘Express’ has learnt that the issue was one of the talking points during the deliberations between the KCA, the Kerala Football Association and the GCDA- the owner of the stadium- while trying to hammer out an understanding for the use of the state’s only world-class stadium. The KCA has agreed to maintain the venue, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) considering allotting test matches to non-traditional venues. The BCCI had also announced that only those state associations which possess their own stadia, or have acquired stadia on extended lease terms, would be allotted international cricket matches, especially test matches.
As the tripartite agreement to be signed between GCDA, KCA and KFA allows for the football association to use the venue for prominent events, KFA had no issues with the lease agreement being extended to 30 years.