MUMBAI: Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the ‘Amaravati International Sports Complex’ project at an event in the coastal city of Vijayawada.
The project has an estimated budget of Rs 600 million, ANI reports.
To be built on 8.9 acres of land, the state government will be contributing Rs 540 million for the project while the Central government will be providing a Rs 60 million subsidy for the same.
The complex is expected to have two swimming pools with the size of 50×20 metres and 20×20 metres, multipurpose indoor hall, outdoor synthetic track and a clubhouse. It is also believed that the headquarters of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) will be shifted to this complex once ready for use.
Its completion time has been set for May 2019 and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) will be in charge of it.
Naidu revealed Andhra Pradesh’s ambitions to make the state the most sought after in India when it comes to sport, with Olympic medals being the aim within the next decade.
“Doesn’t India has the capability to host Olympics? I demand the Central government to bid for Olympics to be held in Amaravati. We will develop Amaravati as a sports hub,” the AP CM told ANI.
While deciding to focus on building Amaravati, Vizag and Tirupati as sports cities, the government has also introduced schemes such as ‘Panchajanya’ and ‘Project Gandiva’ to encourage the youth of the state to take up sport.
Panchajanya involves the SAAP selecting 100 schools in Andhra that will be providing with basic infrastructure facilities such as 200 metres running track, badminton, tennis courts and so on.
While ‘Project Gandiva’ is a talent development programme sponsored by the state.
“To revolutionise sports in Andhra Pradesh, @SportsinAP is launching #ProjectGaandiva. Under this project, govt will select students of age between 10-16 years from village to State level, and provide them with international level facilities, infrastructure and coaching,” Naidu had tweeted on Tuesday.
Naidu also took the opportunity to provide financial aid of Rs 1 million to archery coach Ch Satyanarayana, whose daughter had recently set a world record for shooting 100 arrows in the least amount of time.
