Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Minister of Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal by taking benefit of his position as the chairman of the Annual Plan Coordination Committee (APCC) allocated 70 percent of the sports development budget for the current fiscal year to his city Narowal.

The government had allocated a Rs 630.8 million development budget for the Pakistan Sports Board in the fiscal year 2016-17 in which 450 million had been included in the budget for the completion of ongoing construction works at the sports complex in Narowal.

It is pertinent to mention here that that a multipurpose sports complex at Narowal is being completed at the cost of Rs 2498 million. During the financial year 2016, an amount of Rs 450 million were released.

The updated overall physical progress of the project stands at 52 per cent. The project envisages construction of various sports facilities including a cricket stadium with a pavilion having a seating capacity for five to ten thousand spectators, a grassy football ground, an athletic track, the construction of a hockey ground with astroturf ,two squash and two tennis courts, gymnasium and facilities for indoor games. The construction of the sports complex is Narowal will be completed by December 31 2016. According to documents, the government had included two new schemes in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the financial year 2016-17 for the Pakistan Sports Board.

Against these schemes, Rs 60 million were allocated for laying a new astroturf hockey ground for the promotion of hockey in Swat while Rs 50 million were earmarked for laying an astroturf in hockey grounds in the other cities of country.

Funds amounting to Rs 18.8 million were allocated for the establishment of a bio mechanical lab at the Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad, Rs 50 million for national games and Rs two million for laying an astroturf at the hockey ground in Gilgit. It is worth mentioning here that the APCC is a decision making body which approved the development projects of various ministries and its meeting is held in May or June every year.