Punjab allocates Rs6.15 billion for sports

LAHORE: The Punjab government has allocated Rs6.150 billion for sports and sports development in its budget for next fiscal year.

This is 66 percent higher than the ongoing year’s allocation of Rs2.090 billion. Punjab had 26 new schemes this year and 174 ongoing as compared to 90 new and 91 ongoing schemes for the coming fiscal year.

In its ongoing schemes work is being done to improve the facilities at eight gymnasiums, 25 cricket and 11 football grounds, two volleyball courts, 22 multipurpose sports complexes, five hockey grounds, nine tehsil sports complexes, one squash and one tennis court.

Among new schemes are three gymnasiums, one cricket facility, 10 multipurpose sports complexes, 15 tehsil sports complexes, three high performance centres, one Olympic village, four swimming pools, and one athletic track.

The government has earmarked Rs2 billion for 17 new Tehsil Sports Complexes. Two High Performance Centres for the promotion of cricket will be established in Sialkot and Faisalabad with the cost of Rs1.5 billion.

It will spend Rs250 million on the construction of a Hockey High Performance Centre in Lahore. As many as 250 soft sports facilities will be completed with the cost of Rs500 million across the province.

Moreover, Rs400 million will be spent on the construction of competition-level swimming pools in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Rahimyar Khan and Jhang. However, as the government is focused on completion of ongoing projects, it has yet to get approval of the new schemes.