Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera said that the Sugathadasa Stadium will be fully restored into a modern sports complex by next February.
The Sports Minister making an inspection tour of the stadium said that a new artificial running track, ground renovation and a new lighting system will be implemented very soon.
Speaking further the Minister stated that a fully equipped sports facility is a long felt necessity among sports personnel. He also revealed that the ministry will take legal action against the local company which carried out the previous ground construction and artificial track implementation, spending millions of rupees. The need of a new rain water drainage system for the Sugathadasa Stadium was also discussed.
The stadium will be ready to host rugby and soccer matches before December 31 with the completion of renovation work and the tender for laying the new artificial running track will be given to a reputed company on December 20. In the meantime the lighting system tender will also be worked out.
The light posts around the ground were built around 25 years ago and has been recommended to be removed. The Finance Ministry has approved Rs. 660 million for renovation of Sugathadasa Stadium and Hotel, but the total cost is expected to exceed that limit.
All construction at the stadium is being carried out under the supervision of a special Army unit headed by Captain Premathilaka who has been trained in America on the subject. This special unit played a key role in the renovation of the Racecourse grounds.
“It took more than four months to obtain implementation and technical committee reports. We had to be very careful in tender procedures as there was a huge flouting during the previous tender. The constructor will have two months from December 20 to complete the task. The Sugathadasa Hotel is on the verge of completing its renovation. The administration building is still under construction. All these developments are taking place after 15 years,” the Sports Minister said.
The Sugathadasa Stadium was fully renovated prior to the 2013 Asian Junior Athletic Championship in June. A new artificial track was laid at a cost of Rs. 113 million and another Rs. 32 million was spent on ground renovations. But within a few months an emergency maintenance repair forced the close down of sports activities at the Sugathadasa stadium.
A four-member committee was appointed by the Sports Ministry to investigate into the construction at the stadium and they have submitted their report within three weeks. The committee comprised Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando - chairman (secretary, Sri Lanka Athletic Association), Dervin Perera (national coach), Susanthika Jayasinghe (vice president - Sri Lanka Athletic Association) and Sajith Jayalal (Deputy Director General - Sports).
The report has indicated that the artificial running track is in a very dilapidated condition and cannot be used for running while the practice track is also unusable. Under these circumstances the Sports Ministry acted promptly to stop payment of Rs. 30 million to the relevant local construction company, the Minister stated.
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