hese days, private parties are preparing to construct at least five padel tennis courts in various allocated places in public parks run by the Capital Development Authority.

The Capital Development Authority auctioned these sites with the aim of establishing commercial padel courts to generate around Rs 7.6 million as monthly revenue.

Two of the padel tennis courts are already functioning including one in the Diplomatic Enclave. Padel, a combination of tennis and squash, is growing in the country’s urban zones.

“We saw that this padel tennis court trend is getting traction in Karachi, Lahore and other cities. In Sector E-11 some private parties are already running some courts at private places for commercial purposes,” Malik Atta, CDA’s director sports tells The News on Sunday, adding, “This gave us an idea. We decided to allocate some spaces in public parks and rent out those to private parties for the promotion of padel tennis.”

Apparently, CDA considers it a step towards “promoting a healthy lifestyle” through public-private collaboration. Initially, the plan was to run these courts through public-private partnership and revenue sharing, but later the authorities decided not to share revenue and collect monthly rent from the relevant parties themselves.

According to initial estimates, these privately run padel tennis-courts will charge around Rs 7,000 per hour. The price range makes padel unaffordable for a vast majority of people with only the privileged being able to afford renting courts.

“We are not running this initiative for the public or for promotion of sports. The primary objective is to generate revenue through these courts. The revenue generated will be spent on the maintenance of the relevant parks where these courts will be opened,” says Atta.

“We are not running this initiative for the public or for promotion of sports.The primary objective is to generate revenue through these courts.The revenue generated would be spent on the maintenance of the parks where these courts would be opened.”

He says if people are spending money for private courts in E-11 then they can come to these courts too. “We are taking one-year rent in advance from each court so we are not concerned whether the private parties make that money from the facility or not,” he says. “Our purpose is to get money and spend it on the upkeep of public parks.”

Residents of Islamabad are divided on this. On one hand, people are pleased that more facilities are available in parks, on the other, they are complaining that the charges are too high.

“The CDA generates lot of revenue through various sports. There should be a generous plan for the promotion of sports and healthy lifestyle in the capital city,” says Saeed Akhtar, a young man. “I’m not sure but I believe that if the prices don’t go down, these paddle-tennis courts might go out of business.”

The CDA, according to another official, is also considering a similar model for some other sports in public parks. Auction for futsal sites is also expected soon.

The five new sites where padel tennis courts will open include areas of G-5 near Serena Hotel – Rs 2.1 million/month; F-8 – Rs 2.1 million/month; F-9 Park – Rs 1.45 million/month; G-11 – Rs 1.1 million/month; and G-8 – Rs. 900,000/month.

The successful bidders are required to complete construction in the coming few weeks. “The CDA achieved optimal market value for these prime sports facilities through a process that was transparent and competitive, fulfilling our core objective of maximising public resource utilisation for the benefit of the citizens,” a CDA press release highlighting the matter said.

“This will promote a healthy, active lifestyle among residents by facilitating private sector investment in high-quality sports amenities like padel tennis, which is rapidly gaining popularity in Pakistan,” it added.

The author is a staff reporter. He can be reached at vaqargillani@gmail.com