The Chittagong City Corporation has taken initiative to set up a stadium-cum-sports complex involving Tk 100 crore on the bank of the River Karnaphuli at Purba Bakalia in the city.
CCC sources said there would be sports academy, galleries for 30 thousand viewers, boat club, media box, parking space and restroom for the players at the stadium-cum-sports complex apart from separate grounds for cricket and football.
Rezaul Karim, chief planner of CCC, said they had already started filling up six acres of land with sand along the bank of the River Karnaphuli to set up the structure and added that implementation of the project would take four to five years.
The CCC would develop the ground and construct galleries of the stadium with an expenditure of Tk 10 crore in the first phase, he said, adding that rest of the project would be implemented in phases.
Rezaul Karim also said they would initially complete construction of the stadium and it would be turned into a sports complex in phases. Construction of the stadium would be initiated by the upcoming fiscal, he added.
‘We have also plan to develop a tourism site centring the stadium on the bank of the River Karnaphuli,’ he said, adding that the stadium-cum-sports complex would be of international standard.
M Manjur Alam, mayor of the CCC, said they had undertaken the project to solve the scarceness of playing ground adding that sports arena in the city would be benefited significantly with the setting up of the stadium come sports complex.
‘The number of play grounds reduced in the city drastically due to rapid urbanisation. Setting up the stadium will ease this problem significantly,’ he said. The project would be implemented on own funding of the corporation, he added.
He also said 70 educational institutions run by the CCC would get priority in using the stadium for their sports events; however, other educational institutions and sports organisations would also be able to use it.