In a watershed moment for the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) (India), the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) recently handed over the land lease deed to the cricket body for the construction of a new stadium near Chonp Village at the Jaipur-Delhi National Highway. With this development in place, the next step that the State cricket body will take before starting with the construction work is issuing of the tenders.
The ‘Times of India’ quoted the RCA President, Vaibhav Gehlot, as stating during a media interaction, “It is a major step in taking forward the construction work of RCA’s new stadium. We deposited the lease amount and the JDA Commissioner, Gaurav Goyal, handed us the land deed. The next step will be to float tenders for the construction work. After the entire verification, we will lay the foundation stone, and that will take two-and-a-half month or so.”
The Rajasthan Cricket Association, headquartered in Jaipur (City in Rajasthan), administers the game of cricket in the Indian State of Rajasthan. It officiates over the State level cricket in Rajasthan and the Rajasthan cricket team.
The Jaipur Development Authority is the agency of the Government of Rajasthan responsible for preparation and implementation of masterplan for Jaipur City in the Rajasthan State of India.
The new stadium will be the third largest cricket stadium in the world, after the 110,000-seat Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera (Gujarat) and the 1, 00,024-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground (Australia), and will have a seating capacity of 75,000.
The ‘Times of India’ further stated that the RCA has also received an official letter from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding the infrastructure grant of Rs 100 crore. Talking about the other means to meet the stadium expenditure, Vaibhav said, “We are also in talks with different banks from which we can take a loan of Rs 100 crore. There is a target of Rs 80-90 crore that we are aiming for which we will try to secure from different corporate houses for the work pertaining to corporate boxes and pavilion. RCA will also add some amount in the kitty. In the first phase we will try to complete the seating capacity of 40,000 and the budget for the same has been estimated to be between Rs 300-350 crore.”
He added that the completion of the first phase will take circa 2.5 years.
A JDA official said that around 40.6 hectares of land has been allotted at 30 percent District Lease Committee (DLC) rates – “The RCA will provide payment in four installments. The JDA will give possession of land after the first installment. The cricket body will also construct a hotel on the allotted land.
However, a condition has been laid down that JDA will approve maps of the hotel only after 50 percent of the stadium construction is completed.”
Added Gehlot, “Moreover, refurbishment of the Barkatullah Khan Stadium in Jodhpur is going on at a fast pace. The Rajasthan Government had this year allocated a budget of Rs 20 crore to get the Jodhpur Stadium revamped and the work is in full progress there. The work will be over by mid-October and we can host the domestic tournaments there in November-December. The Executive Committee meeting of the RCA was also held where it was decided that the cricketing activity in the State can be restarted by mid-August or in the first week of September. Training camps and other tournaments will be planned keeping in view the guidelines laid down by the BCCI and the State Government.”
The 40,000-capacity Barkatullah Khan Stadium is located in Jodhpur, Rajasthan (India). It is currently used mostly for cricket. The stadium was established in 1986-1987 but has been used only sporadically.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the governing body for cricket in India and is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India. The Board was formed in December 1928 as a Society, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.
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