Indoor Stadium Campal to get a new look

Anant Bakhale

anant@herald-goa.com

The Sports Authority of Goa has prepared a master plan for the Campal complex wherein in the initial stage priority has been given for reconstruction of multipurpose Indoor Stadium with allied facilities, open tennis courts and up gradation of the ground.

The capital city of Panjim will finally be able to get a boost with two vital complexes -- a modern refurbished indoor hall for badminton, table tennis besides four tennis courts and a football stadium for 5000 to 7000 spectators at the Parade Ground, Campal.

The up gradation of ground will include a baseball pitch which later on will be used as a multipurpose ground. 

“The Sport Authority of Goa has already crossed the major obstacle that is obtaining Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) approval. The plans are ready and only the work has to be tendered and started. We have planned a State of the Art stadium”, informed SAG executive director V M Prabhudesai.

“This process is on and the tenders will be floated very shortly”, he added. 

“The indoor stadium is a pretty old structure. The strength and stability is in doubt. We will demolish the whole structure and we plan to build a one plus one. The design is unique. The cost of this project is around 40 crores rupees”, Prabhudesai said.

“In Panjim there are three projects. One is tennis open stadium courts between youth hostel and the existing Indoor Stadium then comes table tennis and badminton at the present Indoor Stadium and the third project is the office building (SAG and department),” he added.

“The stadiums once ready would be iconic. The infrastructure is in consonance with our objective that these venues will be of international standards for holding national and international events”, he concluded.

J N Chimulkar, chief engineer of Sport Authority of Goa (SAG), also confirmed the news saying that a proposal with blueprint has already been handed over to the government.

“There is a proposal to refurbish Indoor Stadium, Panjim, by means of which there will be upgradation of changing rooms, provision for one floor for badminton with sitting gallery of 1500 capacity, independent provision on the first floor for table tennis, boxing and gymnasium, he said.

“Besides badminton the ground floor will also have other allied sports facilities like the medical room, changing room etc, to be fit for hosting National Games”, he added.

“Adjacent to the Indoor Stadium there are plans to built four tennis courts which will also be of national standards for which necessary changing rooms and a toilet will be constructed for the entire stadium due to space constraints and CRZ norms. The stadium will also have sandwich type roofing”, he informed.

“ The estimated cost of the tennis court will be Rs 4.5 crore while the refurbishment will cost around Rs 17 crore besides other expenses”, he added.

These will be first in the city to have facilities for table tennis along with players changing room, toilets etc which are not available at present.

The tenders have been also floated for cricket stadium at the parade ground, he said.

“The new Campal stadium will not be at the old Bandodkar stadium but will be at the parade ground. Plans have been drawn by Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) for the same. The ground will have a sitting capacity of 7000 spectators, with all the facilities besides an administrative block”, he added.