LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has extended the deadline of completing the re-construction of the Gaddafi Stadium to Feb 2 from the previous Jan 25.

According to a PCB spokesman, most of the finishing work on the stadium had been completed but the final touching would need 10 more days. Earlier, the PCB had set Jan 25 as the deadline to complete the work.

According to the PCB, the work to fix the chairs in the stadium was in final stages, while two digital screens had also been installed. Replacement of floodlights had also been completed.

According to the PCB the stadium would be ready in time to organise the first event of tri-nation series involving Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand scheduled to start from Feb 8. The work on the re-construction was started on Oct 10 last year. There are reports that some portions of PCB offices would be left to be completed later as now the focus is on to complete the stadium.

The Gaddafi Stadium, also the headquarters of the PCB, was set to host the ICC Champions Trophy as the ICC had cleared all the three venues (National Stadium, Karachi, Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi and Gaddafi Stadium) for hosting the matches but the PCB allocated a huge amount of Rs12.80bn to revamp the three stadiums.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2025