LAHORE: Decisions over spending billions of rupees were approved in a matter of a few minutes during the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Board of Governors’ (BoG) last two meetings, Dawn has learnt.

Across the two meetings — the first held at the PCB’s headquarters here on July 6 and the second held at the Iqbal Stadium on Thursday — a budget of Rs12.8 billion was approved for the revamping of three stadia to prepare them for hosting the ICC Champions Trophy next year.

Dawn, however, understands that the duration of the two meetings totalled to a mere 23 minutes, which is unusually short for taking such major decisions. According to sources, the meeting in Lahore was a 10-minute affair, while the one in Faisalabad lasted three minutes longer.

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While the said budget has been dedicated for the rigorous renovation work at the Gaddafi Stadium here, the National Bank Stadium in Karachi and the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, an additional Rs4.5bn and Rs250 million were approved for the domestic cricket and women’s cricket respectively.

According to a PCB official, no agenda was floated ahead of Thursday’s meeting in Faisalabad, since the venue was hosting the opening match of the inaugural Champions One-day Cup.

However, another source told Dawn that the PCB has taken major steps relating to the administration and financial powers of the board’s executives, besides proposing changes to the capital expenditure work regulations.

The BoG has also approved the capital expenditure budget for 2024-25.

Meanwhile, according to the PCB’s documents, out of the total cost of revamping the three stadiums, Rs7.7bn is earmarked for the Gaddafi Stadium.

In its budget Rs1,100m was allocated for the construction of the pavilions. Interestingly, these pavilions had been renovated under ICC advice in 2022-23 during Najam Sethi’s tenure as chairman of the PCB’s interim Management Committee.

After the pavilion’s renovation, the ICC approved Gaddafi Stadium as a suitable venue for the Champions Trophy.

Additionally, floodlights are being replaced with LED lights at a cost of Rs521m, and two digital screens are being replaced at a cost of Rs330m. New chairs are being installed at a cost of Rs375m. The construction of the office building will cost Rs1,471m.

It should be noted that soon after Mohsin Naqvi took charge as the PCB chairman, he ordered the renovation of the PCB office. However, the entire office building, including the new chairman’s office, was demolished.

Re-profiling of the existing Imran Khan and Fazal Mahmood enclosures will be done in steel, costing Rs1,250m. Meanwhile, Rs3.5bn is allocated for refurbishing Karachi’s National Bank Stadium.

Major expenses include the construction of the pavilion building at Rs1,500m, renovation of the main building and existing hospitality boxes at Rs580m, and replacement of two digital screens at Rs330m.

Replacing floodlights with LED lights will cost Rs490m, and new chairs will be installed at Rs340m. It is worth mentioning that the PCB had previously renovated the National Bank Stadium in 2016-17 at a cost of Rs1bn.

For the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rs1.5bn is allocated for renovation, which includes replacing floodlights with LED lights at Rs393m, renovating the main building, existing hospitality boxes, and washrooms at Rs400m, replacing two LED digital screens at Rs330m, and installing new chairs at Rs272m.

Meanwhile, the BoG members also approved a proposal to increase the financial limits for various executive and administrative officials in the two short meetings.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2024