Vijayawada municipal stadium to get a facelift

Vijayawada: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has finalised the master plan for upgradation of Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium. The VMC is working on providing international infrastructure in the stadium with a plan to conduct international cricket matches. VMC commissioner G. Veerapandian is going to visit the best stadiums in the country to see the facilities and designs. The VMC has already closed the stadium for renovation works and a detailed project report was sent to the government.

In the first stage of the stadium upgradation, the cricket ground will be developed to conduct international matches. The VMC is making efforts to ready the stadium by April to conduct Celebrity Cricket League as its first tournament on the ground. According to the VMC commissioner Veerapandian, the master plan for the cricket stadium has been finalised. “We are going to visit some of the best stadiums in the country that include Delhi, Kolkata, Goa and Pune to see the facilities they are providing with a view to replicate them in the IGM Stadium,” he said.

After facing opposition from sports associations other than cricket, the VMC has decided to develop adjacent football ground to accommodate other sports as well. Mr Veerapandian said all the sporting activities will be included on the football ground. “We want to accommodate even new sports in the newly developed facility,” he said. However, the VMC is going slow on the proposal to construct a five-storied building along the stadium.“As of now, we are only planning the cricket stadium. There is a proposal to demolish the existing structure to develop a five-storied building but it is still in the design stage,” he added.