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KARACHI A grand new addition to the Pakistan cricket infrastructure was made here on Sunday when City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal formally inaugurated the new multi-million rupee cricketers' pavilion here at the premises of Arabian Sea Country Club, APP reports.
The inauguration was held in the presence of a host of test cricketers, businessmen and city elite. Prominent among those present were CEO Arabian Sea Country Club Arif Ali Khan Abbasi, the spirit behind the idea of constructing an international class cricket pavilion, members of Jaffer family who sponsored the project, test cricketers, Hanif Muhammad, Aamer Sohail, Shoaib Muhammad, Iqbal Qasim, Faisal Iqbal, Salim Yousuf and Managing Diretor NesPak Asad I.A.Khan who provided architectural expertise for the project.
Abdul Qader Jaffer a former High Commissioner of Pakistan to UK and son of late Ahmed Jaffer, his uncle Yousuf Jaffer, Commander Malik Arshad Gilani, Makhdoom Khaliq uz Zaman, Abdul Dyer, Lt.Gen.(R) Tanveer Naqvi were other notable
personalities present on the occasion.
Speaking on occasion City Nazim praised the ASCC for creating sports project. He had high praise for CEO Arif Abbasi who, he said, had always been in the forefront of promoting sports and in the development of infrastructure. Mustafa Kamal said it was great honor for him to be present here and added it was a happy moment that a new addition to cricket infrastructure was made.
He also praised the role of Jaffer family which funded the project and said he had not seen anything like the cricket pavilion which had been named as 'Jaffer Pavilion.'
He observed that a facility like this would not be complete without floodlights and hoped that some of the businessmen attending the opening ceremony would come forward to help ASCC light the stadium.
He said he would wait for some time for response from businessmen and if it lacked then CDGK itself would provide the funds to install floodlights here.
The CDGK he disclosed had already entered into arrangements to import floodlight system from Korea which would cost around 14.50 million rupees.
He said some of the floodlight imported system would be set up at cricket ground which CDGK has already planned for eighteen towns. He gave in details of how the CDGK was promoting cricket in the 18 towns of the city and said each town would have a cricket team of 18 players and each player would be paid Rs. 10,000 as monthly salary. There will be a coach in each town cricket team with a monthly salary of Rs. 25,000.
He said a CDGK team of 18 players would also be selected. Each CDGK team player would be paid Rs. 25,000 and the coach of the team Rs.50, 000.
Earlier welcoming the city nazim, the CEO of ASCC Arif Ali Khan Abbasi thanked him for gracing the occasion. He underscored the importance of sponsorship and said without the support of Jaffer family the dream that he had seen to build the facility would not have seen the day.
He said he was inspired by the City Nazim who had changed the face of the city by improving civil infrastructure in the city and creating constructing overhead bridges and under passes and improvements of roads.
Abdul Qader Jaffer, speaking on behalf of his family, said Arif Ali Khan Abbasi approached him with the idea to create the facility and his family readily agreed to the suggestion.
He said he and his family had high regard for Arif Ali Khan Abbasi who had contributed so much to sports and requested him to come and help him in creating another cricket pavilion at the new public school his family was constructing at Hub Road.
He also requested Arif Ali Abbasi to discover new players and raise a team that would bring international laurels to Pakistan.
