Work begins on Uva Sports Complex

Yasarathne GAMAGE

Talented sports persons from rural areas were given a promising future expectations when Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Irrigation and Water Recourses Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and Foreign Employment Promotions and Welfare Minister Dilan Perera laid the foundation stone for the proposed Uva Province International Sports Complex at the Vincent Dias Grounds in Badulla on Tuesday.

The sports complex will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 375 million. The sports complex consists of a 400 metre track, training track, a modern pavillion, a 50 metre swimming pool, an indoor stadium, a medical unit and many sports facilities to the international standards. The construction will be in the hands of the Central Advisory Bureau of Engineering and is expected to be completed by next year.

In line with the National Sports Policy which was introduced recently, targeting 2018 Commonwealth Games, which Sri Lanka bids to host in Hambantota, there is the must necessity to bring the rural talented sports personnel to the international sports arena to excel in the mega event.

The Sports Ministry has commenced work on three of the proposed nine provincial sports stadiums in Northern and North Central Province including that of Uva.

The state of the art modern complexes will provide technological facilities, outdoor and indoor stadium, swimming pools, restaurant, hostel facilities, an auditorium and office premises for administrative purposes. The Sports Ministry has planned to begin construction work on the Central Province Sports Stadium by the end of this year.

In addition to the provincial sports complexes, 25 district sports complexes and 324 divisional secretariat level sports complexes will also be built.

The whole programme, expected to be completed by 2017, will bear a cost of Rs 4,500 million purely for the betterment of rural sports personnel.