The reconstruction work of Sugathadasa Stadium will be delayed further, the reason being the Minister of Sports C.B Ratnayake rejected the bid forwarded by the State Engineering Corporation (SEC).
Speaking to the Sunday times the minister said, “We cannot accept the SEC bid because this facility is not for my use but it is for the athletes in Sri Lanka. I have made a request to the SEC to review their bid further.”
Sugathadasa Stadium has the only running track that meets international standards in Sri Lanka. However the facility has not been in use for the past year or more.
SEC initially forwarded a bill of rupees 235 million but since then they have brought it down to rupees 160 million. Nevertheless the minister has said even the bid of 160 million is unrealistic. Now this problem has reached the President and it is said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is due to meet SEC officials on this matter however three foreign companies have also forwarded their bids for the reconstruction of the Sugathadasa Stadium track but it is learnt that all three companies do not have the capabilities of tackling such a gigantic task.
The track was re-laid in 2002 for the Asian Athletic Championships that was held in Sri Lanka and it was guaranteed for five years but in 2004 it had to be re-laid and they say that was due to the poor maintenance of the track.
Meanwhile the Sugathadasa Stadium pool is also undergoing reconstruction at a cost of 60 million rupees. In the midst of this, the deluge on Wednesday inundated the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium as well as the pool. |
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