VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has undertaken works to give a facelift to Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation (IGMC) Stadium to develop it into a one-stop destination for fitness and sporting facilities in the city under urban renewal projects.
Speaking to TNIE on Saturday, VMC Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh said IGMC Stadium, the only multipurpose sports complex in Amaravati region, failed to draw the attention of budding sportspersons due to lack of maintenance.
Taking a serious note of the issue, the civic body has decided to renovate the multipurpose stadium spread over 16 acres of land at an estimated cost of Rs 14.9 crore. A master plan in this regard was drafted. Initially, Rs 4 crore was sanctioned for realising the works that include improving sports facilities with seating galleries and hosting national events, he said.
The other facilities to come up at the stadium include development of exclusive courts for volleyball, football, tennis and kabaddi with sports infrastructure like lighting, play court and pavement with hostel facility with 150 beds, skating rink and cricket net practice arenas. Besides that, focus is also laid for developing a parking facility at the stadium to accommodate at least 75 cars and 500 bikes.
‘’Initially, we have taken up the task of renovating tennis, volleyball and football courts and toilet facilities on the stadium premises. The project was entrusted with Hyderabad-based Ravi Teja Projects Private Limited firm and these works will be completed in next three months,’’ Venkatesh said, adding that the remaining works will be taken up in a phased manner.
Elaborating further, the municipal commissioner said that apart from IGMC Stadium, a detailed project report is finalised for renovating the Dandamudi Rajagopal Rao Municipal Indoor Stadium. The facilities coming up at the indoor stadium include development of four badminton courts by increasing the capacity of seating galleries to 500 to host state and national events, renovation of indoor gym, improving parking facility to accommodate 25 cars and 100 bikes at an estimated cost of Rs 1.8 crore. At present works worth `1.3 crore began at the stadium by Ravi Teja Projects Private Limited and works will be completed in the next three months, he concluded.