Tamil Nadu has unveiled a 500-acre mega sports city on the Chennai outskirts, and the estimated project cost is Rs 700-crore. This mega sports city will have swanky facilities such as the finest athletic tracks, a multipurpose indoor stadium for basketball, a hockey stadium, indoor cycling velodrome, volleyball, and boxing.
The project is being launched near Thiruvidanthai, about 30 km south of Chennai, on East Coast Road (ECR). The recognised land parcel, spread across both banks of Buckingham canal and installed between ECR and Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR), is part of 3,000 acres of government land where, in 2003, the then All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government had planned to develop an administrative city. The state-owned Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) has issued tenders inviting consultants for the preparation of a techno-economic feasibility report for installing the project.
The consultant will examine several revenue models, including Public Private Participation (PPP), to build the sports city and reveal the quantum of investment needed from government and private sectors. The DPR will additionally look into elements like the holding capacity in the sports city. Tamil Nadu sports minister Siva V Meyyanathan told the media that the detailed project report (DPR) for the project would be made shortly.
They have reviewed Pune’s Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex and Patiala’s Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports. The concept behind the facility is to catch sportspersons young and train them to be international sports stars. There is no point in finding 18-year-old sporting sensations. It is challenging to train them further. They need to find talent, particularly in rural areas, when they are as young as 11 years, and then train them. They will give them the required diet and guarantee they win medals for the nation.
