LAYYAH, July 19: Sport lovers may not have their dream materialised as the district nazim has shelved the long-awaited construction of a modern sports complex here. Launched after long deliberations and allocation of funds, the Rs49.794 million project has been discarded in favour of some other work despite an expenditure of a hefty chunk of money on the spadework.

It was in 1993 when the then municipal committee transferred a piece of land measuring 227 kanals and 2 marlas to the district sports committee, headed by the deputy commissioner, through mutation No 1163 for the construction of a state-of-the-art sports stadium. It was visualised to be the biggest sports facility in south Punjab.

According to the plan, the sports complex included football and hockey grounds, lawn tennis courts, gymnasium along with stadium, and a swimming pool. A hostel for sportsmen and a jogging track with grassy lawns and flowerbeds were also envisaged as part of the complex.

The Punjab government allocated Rs1 million for the construction of gymnasium along with boundary wall in the Annual Development Programme for 2006-7. Subsequently, the buildings department invited the tenders last year and awarded the construction work to a government contractor, Javed Iqbal and company.

The contactor started the construction of boundary wall and the department paid him Rs769,000 as an initial amount. Later in the ADP for 2007-08, the government earmarked another Rs20 million for the project.

Surprisingly, work on the project was stopped all of a sudden despite availability of adequate funds and no one took the responsibility for delay. It all transpired last week when District Nazim Malik Ghulam Haider Thind held a post-budget press conference and informed the media that he had suspended the sports stadium project and the land specified for gymnasium was being transferred to establish a wildlife park.

The news shocked many a sports lover in this neck of the wood who had long been demanding construction of adequate facilities for the locals.

Mehr Abdur Rehman, member district sports committee, alleged that the nazim had shelved the public-interest project to fulfil ulterior motives. He said the nazim’s agricultural land was adjacent to the site for the sports complex and he had decided to establish a wildlife park there to enhance the market value of the land.

He demanded that the chief minister should hold an inquiry to ascertain the facts.

Denying the allegation, the nazim told this correspondent that the wildlife project had been initiated in keeping with the public demand and site suitability. And the project could be shifted to some other place if the people showed a lack of interest, he added.