MULTAN: The project of Sports City whose foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is in the doldrums even after passage of more than one year.

One of the main hurdles is the opposition by lawyers who want establishment of the Lawyers’ Colony at the site.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had visited the proposed Sports City at Mati Tal Road on August 7, 2012 and laid the foundation stone of football and hockey stadiums in the first phase of the project.

It was claimed that the Sports City would spread over an area of 75 acre and it would have a gymnasium, tennis and cycling stadiums, lawn tennis, basketball and volleyball courts and hostel facilities for sportsmen besides the football and hockey stadiums.

The hockey stadium and football stadium were to be constructed at the cost of Rs256 million and Rs115 million, respectively.

On Dec 6, 2012, as the provincial government had failed to start work on the project, more than 300 lawyers of the district bar, led by the then president Hafiz Allah Ditta Kashif, removed the inauguration plaques of the chief minister and replaced them with the ones having “Lawyers Colony” written over them, saying inauguration (of the stadiums) did not matter as the land was earlier allocated for the district jail and for the Danish School.

The then District Coordination Officer Nasim Saddiq had said that lawyers' colony would not be established as stadiums were for entire city, however, neither the colony could be established nor could the work be started on the stadiums project.

Sources said the major reason for the delay in work on the stadiums was the reluctance of the provincial government to provide funds for them.

Pakistan national football team player Tajuddin Qureshi said that the city had produced about 17 national football players during the last few years. He said the chief minister should take notice of the delay in work on the football stadium as youngsters were forced to play the game on roads due to unavailability of proper grounds.

Seraiki Qaumi Council Chairman Zahoor Dhareja said the Shahbaz Sharif government was only interested in the development of Lahore and cities of central and northern Punjab.

He said that keeping delay in Sports City in Multan was the continuity of the PML-N government’s policy to keep the Seraiki belt deprived. He said Shahbaz remained reluctant to visit Multan during his previous tenure and he visited the city on a couple of times. He said funds of Seraiki areas were being spent on Lahore.

District Officer Sports Muhammad Siddique said he was not aware of the reasons behind the delay in work on Sports City.