“CDA meets today to finalise sites for cricket and football stadiums in Islamabad”

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) will meet today to approve locations for international cricket and a football stadiums in the federal capital as well as formulate a policy to rent out plots to private schools under strict criteria.

Sources said that for the cricket and football stadiums, two sites (20 acre each) have been proposed near Motorway (MI) and Kuri. The decision about these sites will be made during the meeting chaired by Noorul Amin Mengal, which will take up a 28-point agenda.

Last year, the CDA proposed a stadium in Saidpur. But the idea was dropped later on. Similarly in 2012, CDA and the Pakistan Cricket Board joined hands for the construction of a stadium but the project was scrapped by the Supreme Court in 2018 as it was being built in Skharparian which falls in the national park area.

According to sources, the CDA’s planning wing proposed a site of 20 acre in the Kuri area for the football stadium. CDA officials told Dawn that having a cricket stadium in the capital was a “need of the hour”. However, they said Islamabad had one of the best football stadiums in the Sports Complex. They said that besides exploring new sites, the CDA should also look if it could help the sports board upgrade the Jinnah Stadium. Some years ago, Pakistan successfully hosted the South Asian Women Football Championship at the Jinnah Stadium.