Odisha Cabinet approves Rs 356 cr State Level Sports Development Project

The Odisha Cabinet approved the "State Level Sports Infrastructure Development Project" for the development of sports infrastructure at Kalinga Stadium and International Hockey Stadium

The Odisha Cabinet on Tuesday approved the "State Level Sports Infrastructure Development Project" for the development of sports infrastructure at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, and International Hockey Stadium, Rourkela.

The project with an estimated outlay of Rs 356.38 crores is meant for the development of infrastructure at Kalinga Stadium and the construction of a new hockey stadium at Rourkela to conduct FIH Men's World Cup Hockey 2023.

Odisha is the host for the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup-2023 with venues at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. For this purpose, a new International Hockey Stadium is intended to be developed at Rourkela with a seated capacity of 20,000 spectators. This will be the largest hockey stadium in India, according to an official statement.

The State government has established High Performance Centres (HPCs) in various sports disciplines at Kalinga Stadium in partnership with various corporates and elite sports persons. The infrastructure for these HPCs is the responsibility of the State government. In order to cater to the requirement of the HPCs and other sports disciplines, expansion and up-gradation of the infrastructure facilities at Kalinga Stadium will also be made, read the statement.

In view of this, "State-level Sports Infrastructure Development Project" has been conceptualised having two components to it including expansion of Kalinga Stadium Sports Complex and construction of a new International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela,

Out of the total estimated cost Rs 356.38 crores, Rs 90 crores will be allocated through the budgetary allocation of State government spreading across three financial years starting from 2020-21. The remaining amount is to be funded through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), District Mineral Foundation, Sundargarh and Odisha Sports Development Fund (OSDF). The project will be completed in 16 (Sixteen) months' time.