‘Cochin Sports City,’ India’s first carbon-neutral sports city featuring an international cricket stadium, will come up on 40 acres in Chengamanad village near the Cochin International Airport.
The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) handed over the proposal, which is part of its mission ‘Beyond 2020,’ complete with the initial design to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the four-day International Sports Summit Kerala that got under way at the Greenfield Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, on Tuesday. KCA president Jayesh George submitted the proposal.
“BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) president Jai Shah had already visited the site and cleared the proposal. The entire sports city project entails an investment of around ₹750 crore,” Mr. George told The Hindu. Asked about the timeline for the completion of the project, he said that it was still early days and formalities remained to be completed.
The proposed stadium will have a seating capacity for 40,000. Besides, it will feature indoor and outdoor practice facility, training ground, sports academy and research centre, eco park and water sports park, sports medicine and fitness centre, e-sports arena, entertainment zone and club house.
Besides, the KCA has also announced three more domestic venues at different districts while upgradation of existing facilities is under way. The KCA will also approach the State government expressing interest to maintain the Sports Hub, Greenfield International Stadium for a period of 33 years.
Already, 12 first-class sports infrastructure facilities had been developed in the State at a total investment of around ₹150 crore till date under BCCI’s vision -Mission 2020, said the KCA in a release.
The KCA’s initial proposal to set up a stadium in Edakochi had been dropped in the face of stiff protest by environmentalists on the ground that it would affect mangroves in the area and involved reclamation of wetland. Ever since the KCA stopped using the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, which remains reserved for football, the city has not hosted any international cricket matches much to the disappointment of fans.
