LAHORE, July 4: The funds of the federal government for laying an Astro turf at the hockey stadium in Sialkot are likely to be wasted, since the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has been investing in the project, despite the fact the district government is yet to start construction of the stadium.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf had announced five synthetic turfs for different cities including one for Sialkot in 2001.

He had made the announcement as chief guest of the national hockey championship in Lahore. While work in all the other four cities including Quetta, Bahawalpur, Abbottabad and Faisalabad have been completed, the project in Sialkot is still in doldrums, mainly due to the indifferent attitude of the district government.

According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the district government Sialkot and federal government, the local government has to build the stadium, while Islamabad is to lay the Astro turf and other related facilities.

Sources told Dawn that the federal government was about to lay down the turf, without caring that it could be ruined due to being placed in an open area since the district government had not built the stadium.

“The federal government is spending money and considering to construct an iron-grill boundary in and around the pitch in order to save the pitch and other equipment like water-sprinklers,” sources said.

“The free movement of common people in the area in absence of proper building and security system could damage any thing in and around the pitch,” sources said.

The District sports officer Sialkot, Liaquat admitted the federal government had almost completed its work, but the district government was still trying to generate funds to complete the stadium.

He said the work to lay down the Astro turf was likely to start in the next 15 days as the required machinery is about to arrive from Lahore in next couple of days.

When contacted Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General, Salahuddin, expressed his complete lack of awareness about the development in Sialkot and said he would check up the case on Thursday.

Sources said the PSB had to spend Rs40 million to lay down turf, while due to the delay the budget of the district government had been raised to Rs90 million from Rs50 million. The cost could further increase because the construction of the stadium building is not likely to start this year, sources added.

Sources said the district government had a fund of Rs37million for the stadium and it had poured another Rs10 million in it this year, but it is still in need of heavy amount to overcome the deficit.

The local government has also requested the provincial government to complete the project.

But sources added the provincial government instead of helping out the district government advised them to complete the stadium in phases and start the first one with the available funds.

“The provincial government has no funds for this project since it has been the scheme of the federal and district governments, but it will be better for the local government to start the work with the available amount to arrest the increasing charges,” a provincial sports board officer said on the condition of anonymity.

It may be mentioned here the Sialkot city besides producing Olympians like Shahnaz Sheikh and Asif Bajwa is the hub of factories manufacturing hockey-sticks and other sports goods.