KARACHI, Aug 16: Federation de Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Goal Project II for which the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) had chosen a new site at Hawkesbay after having to give up on their initial choice at Trans Lyari Park (or Gutter Bagheecha), seems to be heading towards a dead end once again what with the consistent delays in handing over of the lease papers to the PFF authorities by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK).

Speaking to Dawn on the phone from Peshawar, where he is also overseeing FIFA’s Earthquake Project, (PFF) Secretary General Col Ahmed Yar Lodhi said that he is afraid that they would even be forced to give up on plot No 13 A-1 in Hawkesbay’s Scheme 42.

In the absence of PFF chief Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, who is currently out of the country, Col Ahmed Yar Lodhi held a meeting on Saturday with Vice President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), V. Manilal Fernando and Mohsin Gilani, the FIFA development officer. “And we have decided to give this land transaction hassle another 15 days after which we would be left with no other option but to shift the project to Quetta,” said Col Lodhi.

“I had myself come to Karachi to have a good look at the land and I liked it too. Although FIFA had their reservations about it being away from the city where even electricity had not reached as yet, I had convinced them about the locality being an ideal choice as it was just a 15-minute’s drive from Lyari, the hub of football in Karachi but now … I just don’t know,” he said while registering his disappointment.

When asked what exactly had gone wrong, Col Lodhi informed: “First we were informed by Karachi’s District Coordinating Officer (DCO) Javed Hanif Khan and Sindh Minister for Katchi Abadis and Sindh Football Association’s (SFA) chief patron Rafiq Engineer that the allotment procedure would be completed as soon as the Director-General Karachi returns from his holiday but he is back now and things are still at a standstill.

“We needed to get possession of the land by July 31 but even after 15 days of passing that deadline, we are still without the lease papers.”

The new site had been okayed by the SFA officials after they realised that the 10-acre amenity plot at Gutter Bagheecha had been reserved by the CDGK authorities to build a housing scheme for their officers.

FIFA Goal Project II is a US$4,00,000 (four lac dollars) project. Apart from accommodating a football stadium, it will have a FIFA House, a block including bungalows for officials along with a spacious hostel for the visiting teams and many sporting facilities such as an indoor gymnasium with sophisticated training equipment and a swimming pool, architectural plans for which have already been approved by FIFA.

Moving the deadline ahead by 15 days makes Aug 31 the last date for acquiring the lease papers.