Ignoring sports for commercial benefits is a dangerous trend

Ignoring sports just for commercial benefits is a dangerous trend and it has already created serious negative impact on our youth. While a commercial approach is a must for the growth of sports but compromising sports just for the sake of commercial benefits brings nothing except degradation in sporting activity. Karachi has especially been targeted towards this dangerous mode of aimless commercialisation. For decades the land mafia has been selling all precious and important lands of the city.
A city of 150 million has not a single sstate-of-the-art sports complex, neither it has any significant park which could be a representative of this commercial city that provides 70 percent of the country's total revenue. The blind selling of lands without sensing needs of huge population growth of over six percent, has turned out to be a rank criminal attitude.
In the latest incident the Sindh government has approved a proposal to commercialise the most precious land allocated specially for a huge sports complex. The decision hung in the balance for the past 30 years but suddenly it was decided to deprive the people of the city. a sporting facility.
According to published details, a Qatari investor has been awarded to use the massive 17,125 square yards of land situated at the intersection of M.A. Jinnah Road and Garden Road. The investor is expected to build a sports complex having indoor games facilities and a 30 room hostel for sportsmen.
The firm has stated that it would invest 150 million dollars to raise a commercial complex, shopping arcade residential complex along with the sports complex. According to a report the sports complex would comprise a library, a museum, a stadium for indoor games, game courts, boxing arena, weightlifting and gymnastic halls, lecture halls, rooms for the office of the Sindh Sports Board and a lobby for the provincial departments.
Commercial portion would comprise showrooms, shops, a shopping arcade, swimming pools and changing rooms, gallery, restaurants and food outlets. Apart from that, there would also be residential flats on the upper storeys.
The land also has an interesting story behind it. This was originally the parking lot of the United States Military Advisory Group (MAG) when their offices were located opposite the site in the Kandawalla building. This was the time when the US military presence was in the city and Pakistan was the member of the defunct South East Asian Treaty Organisation (Seato) and Cento organisations.
The land was allocated during the Z.A. Bhutto era in 1970s to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). Professor Anwar Chowdhry, now the Chief of the AIBA (International Amateur Boxing Association) was asked to develop the project and some funds were released. But unfortunately, when General Zia took over power in a coup and funds for the complex were stopped. As that was not enough, the regime went into litigation for the recovery of the land but failed. The fate land remained stuck up until last week when a decision by the provincial government taken to involve a foreign company in this historical affair.
According to the plan, 40 percent of the land was reserved for commercial units and on the remaining part of the land for a sports complex and a parking lot for 3,000 vehicles would be built.
Small wonder the plan is enough to tell the whole story. The investor would use the 40 percent of the land and the remaining part has two portions. One for a sports complex and another for a parking lot. Byall accounts, there is no need to explain that most of the time the parking lot would be used for those shoppers coming to the mall, restaurants and residents. Since the land is in the area where its impossible to get any parking space outside the complex. Surely one wonders who would benefit from the parking? Again the investor and what would happen to sports complex? The general public would avoid going to the complex. This scenario is extremely unfortunate that allocated for sports complex that could not be completed for a sports complex for 30 long-years, would only get 20 to 25 percent in return of a small indoor stadium. This should be allowed must to happen, so to speak.
The investor would hand over the sports complex to the Sindh Government after completion and it would be 'free of cost'. But the calculation of the price of the most precious land isamounts to only peanuts.
According to independent land brokers, the price of the land is not less than Rs 8 billion.
They said as a 1,000 square yards land in the area could yield an amount of not less than Rs 2 -3 billion through a multi-story shopping and residential complex.
The estimate of the land is almost correct and the return from the investors is of no significance. It is a great loss to the government, to Karachiites and sports lovers. Could not we sell this land on commercial basis and use this money for huge sports complex at some other place away from the downtown? Was it necessary to build small indoor sports complex in the heart of city always trapped under traffic jams and that too at a great loss of money? If the ministry of sports and tourism was not in position to build a complete stadium from its own resources, it could easily earn billions of rupees to build a huge sports complex from the money it could earn through the sale of this 'golden land.'
The sale price of Rs 8 billion of the land is enough to acquire and build a state-of-the-art stadium of multiple facilities including both the indoor and outdoor games.
The current hype in the property prices has already escalated the price of every inch of the land, which the ministry of sports is trying to throwaway just for a return not more than peanuts. There is a need to review the sale contract, evaluate the prices and them offer it to the market. If money is the only problem, then the land should be sold through a transparent mechanism and use this money to build a new sports complex at a location in a less congested area of the city. There is no need to build the stadium at the same place. Access for the general public in that area would be extremely difficult and even if a stadium is built, the area would under sever traffic problems with the inflow and outflow of the spectators from the proposed stadium.It is necessary to review the deal which certainly is a loss both to the people and sports.