Pakistan

PM Shehbaz inaugurates newly renovated Gaddafi stadium – Pakistan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated the newly renovated Gaddafi Stadium for the upcoming Champions Trophy on Friday.

PM Shehbaz inaugurated the stadium with Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz,
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and other officials beside him.

Naqvi had said last month that the stadium in Lahore would be reopened on February 7 (today) by the premier while National Stadium Karachi would be reopened by President Asif Ali Zardari on February 11.

The reconstruction of three stadiums — in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi — which started on Oct 10 last year, looked in peril at one time as the board tried to finish the preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Pakistan’s first ICC event since the World Cup in 1996.

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

While the Gaddafi Stadium reconstruction has been completed, the Rawalpindi Stadium reconstruction will be completed after the Champions Trophy concludes.

A ceremony was scheduled for the reopening of the stadium, Naqvi said earlier in the day while speaking to workers at a press conference at the site.

Naqvi said, “Lots of people have been messaging and congratulating that ‘you made this stadium’ but I understand that you [labourers] are responsible for the completion of the stadium, you are deserving of the praise.”

“Every labourer [deserves praise], I met a worker who said he hadn’t gone home in 2 months, the way they were living here and working for 12 to 14 hours, you should have seen the conditions they were in,” he added.

Source Link