Plans have been outlined to build Pakistan’s biggest cricket stadium in the capital city of Islamabad.
Ehsan Mani, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has been instructed to explore a new “state-of-the-art” stadium by Prime Minister Imran Khan, who captained the Pakistan national team before entering politics.
According to the Daily Times newspaper, the stadium would be capable of hosting international and local tournaments and would also include a high-performance centre. The location for a potential stadium will now be explored and plans are set to be presented to the Prime Minister next month.
Mani has met with Amir Ali Ahmed, the chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), to discuss the plans. The project will be carried out through a public-private partnership and Nadeem Khan, director of the PCB’s national high-performance centre, said that plans are progressing quickly.
“The creation of a state-of-the-art international cricket stadium in Islamabad will help the growth of cricket in the country,” he said. “This stadium will have all the latest state-of-the-art facilities for the sport.
“Steady progress is being made on the mega project and the Prime Minister will lay the foundation for it. PCB officials are in constant contact with the officials of the CDA. We are also planning on creating high-performance centres in Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Faisalabad.”
The National Cricket Stadium in Karachi has a capacity of 34,000, making it the largest in the country. The specific capacity of the proposed venue in Islamabad has not been disclosed.
Image: Hamid Roshaan on Unsplash
