Ghaziabad: Civic body plans sports complex near Raj Nagar Extension

Officials said the complex will have facilities for sports such as boxing, billiards, basketball, badminton, gymnastics, judo, kabaddi, shooting, lawn tennis, squash, swimming, weightlifting, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu, among others

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation has prepared a proposal for a major sports complex near Raj Nagar Extension (RNE), with facilities to host about 30 different indoor sports, officials in the know of the matter said on Wednesday.

There is also a proposal in the works for an international cricket stadium in Morti near Raj Nagar Extension, with a seating capacity for about 55,000, officials said. (SAkib Ali/HT Photo)

The project plan has been sent to the state government for approval and it is estimated that the sports complex would cost about ₹109 crore, said officials.

The civic body has about 51,000 square metres of land near Karhera rotary near RNE and this was earlier set aside for a political training institute for public representatives. That project, however, was scrapped by the government in March 2023 and the land has been lying vacant since then.

“The land is available with us after the political training institute project was scrapped. We have now planned to develop a sports complex there at an estimated cost of ₹109 crore. It will host various indoor games. A project report in this regard has been sent to the state government for approval. The funds will be managed through the state Smart City Mission,” said NK Chaudhary, chief engineer, Ghaziabad municipal corporation.

Under the Smart City Mission, several cities in Uttar Pradesh, including Ghaziabad, are eligible to get a funding of ₹250 crore for a period of five years, which works out to ₹50 crore annually.

Ghaziabad was among seven municipal corporations in the state selected for this mission besides Meerut, Ayodhya, Gorakhpur, Mathura Vrindavan, Firozabad and Shahjahanpur.

The officials said once the project gets completed, they expect it to be maintained by private firms on a public-private partnership basis as the corporation has no specialisation in the maintenance of sports complexes.

“The sports complex will also have seating capacity for about 300 people and our estimate is that it can be built in about two years once the final approval is obtained. The location is easily accessible from nearby Hindon River Metro station, Hindon elevated road and the Raj Nagar Extension Road,” Chaudhary said.

Officials said the complex will have facilities for sports such as boxing, billiards, basketball, badminton, gymnastics, judo, kabaddi, shooting, lawn tennis, squash, swimming, weightlifting, taekwondo, wrestling and wushu, among others.

The officials belive that sporting activities in the city will get a major boost once the sporting complex comes up. There is also a proposal in the works for an international cricket stadium in Morti near Raj Nagar Extension, with a seating capacity for about 55,000, they said.