Sports facilities: City government to take over 26 grounds

Joint committee to inspect sites before takeover.

LAHORE:

The city government is to take over management of 26 sports grounds developed by the Parks and Horticulture Authority, pending inspections of the sites to ensure that they need no further work.

The PHA developed 218 sports facilities in 2012 on the instructions of the provincial government. It had been decided that the city government would take over and manage the sites that were not located within PHA-controlled grounds, through the District Office of Sports. However, several months since completion, they remain with the PHA.

The PHA director general sent two letters to the Lahore commissioner a few months ago calling for the transfer of 26 of these sites to the city government. Representatives of the city government, the PHA and the Planning and Development Department, at a meeting a few days ago, decided to form a joint PHA and District Office of Sports committee to inspect the 26 sites and then decide on their transfer.

City government officials said that the reason they did not want to take over the sites was because they would cost around Rs40 million a year to maintain. “We are already short of funds and this will just add to the strain on the budget,” said one official.



Divisional Sports Officer Malik Waqar Hussain of the Punjab Sports Board said that some work may be needed on some sites, though they had been finished several months ago according to the PHA. The ones which don’t require further work will be taken over by the city government, he added.

PHA Director General Mian Shakeel said that the sites had been developed, but some may require some maintenance. He too said that the maintenance of the sites would be an extra burden on the PHA budget.

The PHA says it has developed 218 sites, including 26 cricket grounds, 26 practice cricket pitches, five hockey grounds, two football grounds, eight basketball courts, 14 badminton courts, three table tennis halls, five volleyball courts, 50 gyms for men, nine gyms for women, 68 children’s playgrounds and two swimming pools at a cost of over Rs100 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2013.