Agency :
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Faruque Ahmed, determined to begin the construction of the Purbachal Stadium, formerly known as ‘Sheikh Hasina International Cricket Stadium or Boat’ as quickly as possible.
The former BCB constitution held under Nazmul Hasan Papon failed to develop the infrastructure of the Purbachal Stadium in five years.
Faruque cancelled the tender process for the stadium’s construction during the first board meeting held after his appointment as the board president.
As per the new plan, the board is keen to start the construction of the new stadium and will move to the next one after building first one. BCB has also committed to ICC to expand the stadium before the 2031 World Cup which will be held in Bangladesh. In addition, the field is also essential for upcoming first-class and domestic cricket.
“After taking charge, our main plan was to develop the grounds. We are also thinking about constructing a new field. Since it is our place, it was in the plan already. Now we will try to shape it quickly. It will be queued with the grounds that require reconstruction,” said Faruque in the media conference.
“We will move step by step. It was earlier planned to have two fields here, a big stadium. At this moment, we can’t afford the budget. So we will start with one field first, then try to go on to the next one. We will start our work quickly. Now we have many types of sports, starting from seniors to women’s cricket, club cricket-many sports.
So we need to construct the field for that,” he said. However, the board president did not mention when the marquee stadium will be completed. But BCB will stick to Populous, a global architectural design firm specializing in creating stadiums and venues.
He also emphasized that it’s important to note that a stadium doesn’t have to resemble a boat or be square-shaped to be functional; it should have an oval structure. “There is no need for a boat or a square-shaped structure to build a stadium. An oval shape is good enough.
Whatever is needed to build the field, we will do that. This will be decided by the Ministry of Sports and the Cricket Board,” he added.