KOCHI: Short of funds, the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) would implement the ambitious Rs 96 crore project to set up a ‘Mini Sports City’ by renovating the famous Ambedkar Stadium in two phases. The design of the same has been finalised.
The demolition of the gallery of the old Ambedkar stadium, the venue of several football tournaments including the Santosh Trophy in its glorious past, near the Ernakulam KSRTC bus station, will be completed in another 15 days.
The Rs 25-crore first phase involves the construction of a football turf and a drainage system.
“Under the first phase, we’ll construct a natural football turf of international standard and gallery with 10,000 seating capacity by replacing the existing synthetic one. Besides, a proper drainage system will also be set up to prevent the stadium area from getting flooded during monsoon. These works will be completed in an year. The remaining work will be completed as and when we receive sufficient funds,” said a senior GCDA official.
According to him, the football court with a capacity of 10,000 people could host small tournaments and even the Super League Kerala.
“The football court will come at the railway line side. A huge partially enclosed facility will be constructed next to the football court, which will have sports coaching facilities.
The same includes a cricketing net, hockey field, basketball court, volleyball court, indoor stadium (for badminton, table tennis, etc.), gymnasium, dormitories for ladies and gents, lockers, medical room, cafeteria and administration office. Besides, an olympics-size swimming pool, a 200-metre athletics track, archery raining facility, an exclusive parking area (100 cars and 10 buses), and dedicated tracks for walking and cycling will also come up, “ the official pointed out.
The GCDA plans to source CSR funds for realising the project and is in talks with PSUs like BPCL. “It’s envisaged to redevelop the stadium area covering 6.9 acres after demarcating the land for the proposed ring road around the stadium. We’ll implement the project in various phases as per the availability of funds. We’ll relocate the nearly 82 vendors (earlier relocated from Mullassery Canal Road as part of the Operation Breakthrough initiative) in the Fashion Street there.
We’ve already identified a couple of locations,” the official said.The existing Ambedkar stadium has been a main venue for many football matches. A world-class synthetic football turf was set up here in 2015 using the FIFA funds. While it’s a prime land in the central business district (CBD) of the city, the stadium has been neglected for the past several years. It gets easily flooded due to lack of a proper drainage system and levelling up of adjacent plots.
KFA bats for exclusive football stadium
Meanwhile, Kerala Football Association (KFA) president Navas Meeran batted for redevelopment of the stadium into a dedicated football ground, with a capacity to accommodate 70,000 spectators, instead of a multi-purpose stadium.
“Football is having a huge following in the state, but we need dedicated stadiums to attract more audience. The problem with multipurpose grounds is that the audience could watch the matches only from a distance. Ideally the pavilion should be within nine metres for the spectators to fully engage in the game,” Navas said.
The KFA had requested the GCDA to hand over the land to them to develop a dedicated stadium. “We’ve even submitted a plan. But for some reason, the authorities didn’t entrust the work to us,” he added.