The construction of the new synthetic track at the Maharaja's College ground is likely to be completed by November, 2023.
A meeting of the college development council held on Saturday decided to speed up the work, which has been delayed for long. A three-member committee has been constituted to oversee the timely completion of the project. It included head of the Department of Physical Education, Executive Engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD), and a technical expert. The administrative sanction for the revised project estimate is expected to be ready by August. The technical committee will approve the project in September. The tender proceedings are expected to be completed by October.
“The revised estimate for the project is ₹8.73 crore. The earlier estimate was around ₹6.9 crore. The GST component has also changed from 12% to 18%,” said N. Ramakanthan, chairman of the governing council of Maharaja’s College.
District Collector Jafar Malik, Hibi Eden, MP, T. J. Vinod, MLA, and Mayor M. Anilkumar had visited the track two days ago as part of the efforts to speed up the work. Though the government had given administrative sanction in September 2021, the relaying of the track got delayed after the PWD sought expert opinion on the way forward. The bureaucratic delay had further slowed down the process.
Mr. Ramakanthan said a decision was also taken to speed up modernisation of the hockey turf. The bus stop on M.G. Road in front of the ground will be relocated to achieve the required width of 65 metres for the turf. About 300 tree saplings would be planted around the ground as three trees located in the middle of the hockey ground had to be axed as part of the renovation work, he said. The forestry club of the college will be entrusted with the task of planting the saplings.
