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Odisha govt's nod for upward cost revision for sports infra ahead of hockey world cup

State will host the Men's Hockey World Cup next year

Representational Picture File Picture

PTI
Published 23.09.22, 04:25 PM

The Odisha government has decided to revise estimated cost for developing infrastructure at two stadiums in the state to around Rs 875 crore, ahead of the Men's Hockey World Cup in 2023, an official said on Friday.

The development of infrastructure at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and the construction of Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela were initially projected at Rs 432.5 crore, he said.

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A proposal to revise the project cost upwardly was approved at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Thursday.

The state will host the Men's Hockey World Cup next year.

The Birsa Munda Stadium is being built with a seating capacity of 20,000 spectators, while the work is underway to revamp the Kalinga facility.

Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra, in a statement, said the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation has estimated the revised cost for completion of the project at Rs 875.8 crore.

The entire project is scheduled to be completed by December 2022.

For the project, the cabinet also gave its nod for a budgetary allocation of Rs 562.58 crore over three financial years from 2020-21.

The remaining amount is to be provided through the district mineral foundation of Sundargarh, Odisha Sports Development Fund and the corporate social responsibility, Mohapatra said.

There was upgradation of design and safety parameters to make the structures disaster-resilient and this had an implication on the quantities of structural components, the statement said.

After discussions with the national and international sports federations, some of the best practices, products, equipment were adopted to make the facilities at par with the international standards, it said.

The price escalation of steel, aluminium and other raw materials was taken into account in increasing the total project cost.

During his visit earlier this month, International Hockey Federation chief executive officer Thierry Weil observed that the Birsa Munda Stadium might be the world's largest hockey ground.

The Kalinga Stadium will have South Asia's first indoor athletic facility, which will help athletes to train throughout the year. The sports complex will also have a state-of-the-art aquatic centre, which can host national and international swimming events.

Naveen Patnaik Odisha
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