Imran Khan, chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the ruling party in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, announced that a major cricket stadium would be built in every sub-district of KPK to promote sports in the militancy-hit province. He said this on October 13 while addressing a gathering at a peace cricket match at Arbab Niaz Stadium Peshawar.
The promise has been also listed in the PTI manifesto under the section ‘Youth’. It emphasizes the need for a comprehensive sports policy to set up international-standard facilities for cricket, football, hockey and other sports in every district of KPK.
Mehmood Khan, Provincial Sports and Culture Minister and a member of PTI, didn’t respond to a Truth Tracker call. Fazal Muhammad, a section officer in the provincial Sports Department told Truth Tracker that the project to construct stadiums in every sub-district of KPK was underway.
The province’s Sports Department initially drafted a summery and sent it to the provincial chief minister through the sports minister, said Fazal Muhammad.
He said that the land requisition for these stadiums was at the feasibility stage. However in ten districts, state land was available while in the remaining districts, public land will be purchased for the purpose of building the stadiums.
The task of requisition of land, he said, had been handed over to deputy commissioners and provincial members of parliament (MPAs) of the respective districts.
“These will be mini sports stadiums,” Fazal told Truth Tracker. “The processes of documentation, construction and other preparations have been put on a fast track.”
KPK province has 25 districts with 69 tehsils (sub-districts). Niamatullah, assistant director of planning and development at the provincial Sports Directorate told Truth Tracker that the project would cost Rs. 2.268 billion.
He said the sports stadiums will be built in only 36 sub-districts of the province because the rest of the sub-districts already have state-owned playgrounds. He said that a proposal for the project had been prepared and sent to the provincial chief minister for further processing.
Generally, government construction projects take a long time and are often delayed, said Naimatullah. However, he said, the completion date of these playgrounds will be decided after hiring consultants and preparing a final feasibility report of the project.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan is a proponent of youth and sports-based policy to bring peace and fight terrorism in the troubled KPK province. He won elections on the basis of his charisma as a leading cricketer and is popular among youth who form his constituency.
Ali Hoti, a cricket coach at Islamia College in Peshawar, termed Imran Khan’s decision a good omen for the people of KPK. Hoti told Truth Tracker that KPK lacked sports facilities and stadiums. In Peshawar, he said, there are only two cricket grounds - Arbab Niaz and Jimkhana stadiums - which are not enough for a populated city.
“Games and sports are symbols of happiness,” said Hoti. “Peaceful people play games. Peace and sports are interrelated to each other. The initiative will bring a positive change in our society.”
Hoti said that once sports grounds were established at the rural level, young and energetic talent would surface in remote areas of the province. He said it was a little challenging to acquire land for the sports stadiums because people were more willing to give land for factories and markets rather than for sports.
Professor Jamil Ahmad Chitrali, social anthropology instructor at the University of Peshawar, told Truth Tracker that certain ideas about Imran Khan reflected the passion of his past career as a cricketing icon and such statements were promising.
“However, implementation of this mega project seems challenging because Imran Khan and his team [in the provincial government] have different priorities and approaches,” Jamil told Truth Tracker.
He said that according to media reports, ministers were being sacked due to corruption and this anomaly would put hurdles in the way of fulfilling Imran Khan’s promises.
“The international community will give funds to this project if Imran Khan’s approach is based on educating his people and his government’s efforts for peace are clearly stated, otherwise global donors will not fund it,” he said.
According to the available data, facts, figures and independent views, the project of construction of sports stadium in every sub-district of KPK is underway. The Truth Tracker verdict is that Imran Khan’s PTI is working towards fulfilling the promise it made to the people of KPK.
I did my master in journalism and Mass Communication from university of Peshawar in 2006. I have a vast experience in humanitarian reporting. I have have worked in different national and international news organizations as producer and reporter.Presently I am working with Center for Research and Security Studies as reporter from southern areas of KP.
March 20, 2014
March 19, 2014
March 18, 2014
March 14, 2014
|
How many sports stadiums have built in these 2 years ? http://www.channel.pk/watch-ptv-sports-live-streaming.html