Bangladesh Cricket Board president Faruk Ahmed said the board will not be able to afford the fund that was set for the Sheikh Hasina International Cricket Stadium in Dhaka’s Purbachal.
Former BCB president Nazmul Hasan and his board had drafted an approximate Tk1,100 crore budget for the venue that was to be a state of the art cricket complex.
However, since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5, Nazmul and majority of his influential directors have been in hiding.
This was followed by the resignation of Nazmul as BCB chief with the charge handed to former Bangladesh captain Faruk.
The situation has put the future of Sheikh Hasina Stadium in dark.
“There were supposed to be two fields here along with a big stadium. At this point I do not think we will be able afford such a big budget,” said Faruk to the media during his visit to Purbachal along with other directors Saturday.
“So first we want to start with one field here [in Purbachal] and will then try to make a second field. You will soon get to see that the work has started,” said the BCB boss.
BCB had acquired about 38 acres land in Purbachal from the government at a very minimal price, the market of which is likely to be more than Tk3,550 crores.
The board under Nazmul had assigned Australian architecture company, Populous Architecture, for the construction of the stadium and had paid Tk76 crores.
“The board has already invested in a consultation firm. We will have to remain with that and go ahead with that at this point. It is not possible to make changes in a day,” said Faruk.
“First, we will need to construct the field and the dressing room. We will try to work according to their [Populous] plan but I have not seen the plan yet. But I think we will work based on the plan that was given,” added the former cricketer.
Earlier, the BCB during a meeting last Thursday cancelled the tender process for the stadium's construction.
The BCB supremo stated that, given the large scale of the stadium project, they want to proceed cautiously and consider all aspects carefully.
The deadline for submitting tenders was August 30th, but the process was cancelled the day before.
It has been reported in the media that the stadium's name will be changed, and the boat-shaped design that was initially finalized will no longer be used.
