Ghaziabad: Foundation stone to be laid for int’l cricket stadium on March 10

The construction of the international cricket stadium in Ghaziabad may pick up pace as the foundation stone for the project will be laid on March 10, officials of the Ghaziabad cricket association (GCA) said on Friday .

The deliberations to construct the stadium has been going on since 2018 but the floor area ratio (FAR) component demanded by the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) from the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) was higher than the permissible limit.

Rakesh Mishra, GCA president, said,“The foundation stone laying function will be attended by Rajiv Shukla, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and Ghaziabad MP gen VK Singh (retired). We are now looking forward beyond the issues that cropped up in the project in the past.”

Mishra, who is also the convener of the stadium from UPCA, however, declined to comment whether the previous issues related to FAR were resolved or not.

Mishra said the new cricket stadium was built at a cost of ₹450 crore.

“The stadium will get complete by 2026 and about ₹70 crore has already been spent on purchasing the land. The stadium will comply with all international standards and will have a seating capacity for 55,000 spectators,” Mishra said.

In November 2019, the GDA officials said the UPCA did not submit the stadium building maps for sanction and they were also demanding a higher FAR of about 2.7 which was not permissible under the existing norms.

HT on Friday tried to contact Indra Vikram Singh, the vice-chairperson of GDA, and also Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary, GDA, for their response on the matter, but the two officials did not respond.

“I have no information about the cricket stadium project,” said Ajay Kumar Singh, GDA’s chief architect and town planner.

The facility is proposed to come up on 32 acres at Morti near Raj Nagar Extension, said officials.

GDA secretary in October 2023 had told HT, “The officials of the UPCA met us and they agreed upon a change in land use. The land has agriculture use at present and they will apply for it to be changed to community facilities. After that, they will submit maps for clearance. So, the FAR component available under the changed land use of community facilities will be sufficient to their requirement and the project will be expedited.”

Mishra in October 2023 had also said, “At present, we are just looking to expedite the construction on the stadium and the sports academy. For that, we have a present requirement of FAR of about 1-1.2, which will be sufficient for construction. So, we are in the process of preparing the proposal and it will be submitted to GDA in the coming days. Once this is done, we expect that the work on the stadium to pick up pace.”

As per the initial proposal submitted to the authority, the stadium was to have a parking facility for about 2,500 vehicles.