ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has failed to even partially reopen Pakistan Sports Complex (PSC) shut down during the Covid-19 lockdown even though it committed to making some of the sports courts operational by early May.

The PSB was facing criticism for keeping the key sports facilities shut for the last over two and a half years.

Last month, the PSB had issued a statement with an assurance of reopening a few facilities in the current month.

All major facilities at the PSC governed by the PSB have been lying dormant since 2020 to counter the Covid-19 spread.

Some of the major sports facilities were also vital sources of revenue generation for PSB. These included badminton courts, swimming pool, squash courts, gym and lawn tennis.

Faces criticism for keeping key sports facilities shut for over two-and-a-half years

The sports facilities at the PSC were accessible to general public, including professional and amateur players and senior citizens, through regulated membership.

The management of the PSB had reopened lawn tennis courts and gym but kept the other facilities shut as it started repair and maintenance work on the premises.

Though renovation of the badminton court and hockey ground has been completed a few days back, these could not be reopened as the newly appointed Director General PSB Shoaib Khoso wanted the inauguration of these renovated facilities by minister Ehsanur Rehman Mazari.

A senior official of the PSB told Dawn that the DG PSB will announce a date for a ceremony to reopen these facilities and Mr Mazari will be the chief guest of the event. The PSB had earlier stated that Hamidi Halls and swimming pool at the complex, which were being upgraded to host the South Asian Games 2024 in a befitting manner, would be opened soon.

The South Asian Games (SAG) was a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. Pakistan was selected to host the 14th Edition of the South Asian Games by the South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC), the governing body of the games, it said.

Meanwhile, the repair, renovation and upgradation of sports facilities at the Sports Complex and coaching centres were underway to make them of international standards, it said, adding that due to the work, some facilities were temporarily closed for the safety of athletes and members.

The members of the Sports Complex told Dawn that the closure of facilities for such a long time had exposed poor strategy of the Sports Board.

One of the members, Nasir Iqbal, said that the board could have completed the renovation during the lockdown, but it started the work after the restrictions were lifted.

An insider said that the PSB issued multimillion rupees contracts for different works in all of a sudden. Some contractors have even approached the secretary Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC), the administrative division of the PSB for unfair distribution of development work.

He, however, said that the matter was later resolved when the PSB ‘compensated’ the complainants.

Following the change of regime, the incumbent minister removed DG PSB Asif Zaman and appointed a junior officer as acting DG PSB. He also removed the senior most Deputy Director General Mansoor Ahmed Khan. The present DG PSB was appointed a couple of weeks before.

The PSB official said the swimming pool and squash courts are currently being repaired and the maintenance work likely to complete in July this year.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2023