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NEW DELHI: Delhi's iconic sports venue, Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) Stadium, which was originally built for the 1982 Asian Games and later refurbished at a cost of over Rs 900 crore ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, will likely be demolished and undergo a major makeover, according to sports ministry officials. The ministry is considering plans to redevelop the venue into a sprawling sports city in coming years, catering to all major disciplines, including a lodging facility for athletes, officials said on Monday. The Union govt plans to overhaul the 102-acre JLN stadium complex into a state-of-the-art, multi-discipline premier facility equipped with world-class infrastructure for both training purposes and hosting major sporting events. "The planning is in the proposal stage. Other ministries, including the urban development ministry, need to be consulted as well. The timeline for the project and the estimated cost has not yet been worked out. But it's been decided to dismantle and redevelop the JLN stadium into a premier sports city," officials said. JLN rebuild could be inspired by Qatar's famed Sports City Officials told TOI that the proposed sports city would be modelled on Qatar's Sports City, also known as Aspire Zone, in the Baaya district of Al Rayyan, which is located near Doha. It was built in 2003 at a cost running into billions of dollars. The facility was central to Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and forms a key part of its ambitions to host the Olympics in 2036. Last week, sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya and his team attended the second World Summit for Social Development in Qatar. It has been learnt that the minister visited the Sports City and was left impressed with the facilities. Mandaviya even enquired at length about the project development from the Qatari sports officials. According to ministry sources, a delegation from Qatar would soon visit Delhi to assess the viability of the JLN redevelopment project and prepare a roadmap for Indian authorities. The ministry would also study two other key sports infrastructure for JLN stadium redevelopment - Australia's Docklands stadium in Melbourne that can host cricket, Australian Rules football, rugby, cricket and soccer, and the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Sports Enclave closer home in Ahmedabad, which is spread across 650 acres and includes the Narendra Modi stadium and multiple Olympic-standard facilities. The project cost the Gujarat govt Rs 5,050 cr. "All offices inside the stadium, including some of the ministry's departments like Sports Authority of India (SAI), National Anti-Doping Agency (Nada), National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), and Income Tax department will be relocated as and when the project takes off. Currently, over 100 acres of land that it occupies is not being used to its optimal level. Only 28 percent has been utilised," officials said. JLN stadium, with a seating capacity of 60,000, hosted several prestigious international events, including the Delhi CWG 2010 and U17 FIFA World Cup in 2017. It recently received a major renovation for the World Para Athletics Championships, which saw the participation of over 2,200 athletes globally from 104 nations. A new blue-coloured, nine-lane Mondo synthetic track was installed at both the main ground and warm-up area for an approximate cost of Rs 25 cr, while the total stadium refurbishment cost was around Rs 80 crore. The facility is primarily used for athletics events and football matches and has an archery, badminton and table tennis academy.
