*KARACHI: *Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) bid to construct a cricketstadium in Shakarparian in Islamabad has come to a halt after the SupremeCourt (SC) scrapped the plan and handed over control to the CapitalDevelopment Authority (CDA) on Friday.
The PCB had plans to construct a stadium on 35 acres of land inShakarparian, which falls in Zone III in Islamabad, however, the SC ruledthat since the area was part of the National Park area, construction of astadium could not be allowed.
PCB Chairman Najam Sethi responded by saying that the board respects theSC’s verdict and will look for an alternate place for the project.
“We wanted to have a stadium there but now as the SC has given a decisionnot to build the proposed cricket stadium at Sharkarparian, so now we willsearch for an alternative location,” said Sethi.
Talking about the alternative place for the project, he informed that theboard has not yet identified any place but it will share with details withSC as soon as it has found one.
“The PCB will identify new sites for the stadium and would request the SCto ask the CDA to facilitate the search,” he added.
The CDA and PCB signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard,twice — in 2008 and 2012 — but on both occasions the CDA backed out afterclaims that the PCB had not fulfilled the MoU’s terms and conditions.
Last month, the CDA submitted a report with the SC mentioning that it wouldnot be carry out the project because the PCB had not followed the mutuallyagreed terms and conditions.