PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has completed construction of 100 playgrounds in various parts of the province and handed them over to the directorate of sports while work on 50 other grounds at the union and tehsil council levels is underway.

Provincial director general sports Junaid Khan said this on Tuesday while briefing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan in a high-level meeting on the occasion of inauguration by him of the recently-rehabilitated Peshawar Sports Complex.

The DG said that 35 of the 65 schemes of rehabilitation of the exiting sports facilities, including Qayyum Sports Stadium, had been completed. He said that reconstruction of Peshawar Sports Complex had been completed with a total cost of Rs164 million to provide enhanced sports facilities to the upcoming players.

Junaid Khan also said that after execution of the project at Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium, Peshawar, it would offer all the facilities required for modern day cricket. The facilities include improvement of the ground, new pavilion, changing rooms, seating capacity enhanced from 1,6000 to 32,000 spectators, additional floor on the stairs, generators and floodlights, dining halls, conference halls, swimming pool, office rooms, washrooms, media galleries, VIP stands, a modern cricket academy on the pattern of National Cricket Academy of Qaddafi Stadium Lahore, two gymnasiums, indoor practice pitches, five-star accommodations for the players and digital monitoring systems.

Imran inaugurates renovated Peshawar Sports Complex

Besides, he said that an MoU had already been signed with the chief operating officer of Pakistan Cricket Board for establishment of the cricket academy in Arbab Niaz stadium, which would be the second such facility in Pakistan.

He said that a squash complex would be constructed in Peshawar by end of June 2018 with an estimated cost of 100 million, while work had been started on international standard multi-purpose gymnasium costing Rs220 million in Nowshera.

Similarly, work would soon commence on Abbottabad multi-purpose gymnasium costing Rs204 million while land has been selected for Swat Sports Complex and Rs507 million approved for the project.

The work at Kohat Sports Complex (indoor facilities) is in full swing and would be completed by June 2018 at a cost of Rs172 million. Also, players’ hostel at Dera Ismail Khan Sports Complex would be completed by the end of March at a cost of Rs64 million.

Bannu hockey turf at Qazi Mohib Hockey Stadium would be completed by April this year at a cost of Rs55 million. The project of indoor sports facilities for females in Peshawar is near completion, with would cost Rs30 million.

The Swabi Sports Complex costing Rs183 million would be ready by March this year while Rustum Sports Complex in Mardan would be completed at a cost of Rs241 million and a stadium at Haripur, costing Rs30 million, will be inaugurated soon.

He said that hockey turfs at Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Charsadda, Swat and Peshawar would be laid down at a total cost of Rs350 million. In addition, the athletics tracks in Bannu, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan had already been approved.

The old pavilion of Qayyum Sports Stadium was demolished and a new pavilion had now been completed.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2018