With the parapet, field, and finishing works still remaining at the stadium with a capacity of 16,000 spectators, the final construction deadline is approaching.
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Less than six months remain until the deadline for the construction of the Gautam Buddha Cricket Stadium under construction in Rampur. According to Santosh Acharya, Senior Divisional Engineer and Head of the Infrastructure Division of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, the physical progress of the stadium construction has reached 59 percent, while the financial progress stands at 45 percent so far.
The stadium is currently being built with investment from the metropolitan city as well as the federal and provincial governments. Initially, in Magh 2075, the Dhurmus Suntali Foundation began construction of the stadium by raising funds. However, after the foundation withdrew from the project citing a lack of sufficient support, Bharatpur Metropolitan City took ownership and resumed the work. After the city took over, an agreement was signed with the construction company on Asar 23, 2081, to complete the work within 30 months.
Engineer Adarsha Pokharel of the metropolitan city said that, within two years of the agreement, three out of the four parapet stands have been constructed, and preparations are underway for the final casting of the remaining one. Similarly, he said that although the casting of the two towers in the stadium has been completed, finishing work remains. Engineer Pokharel also informed that the wall construction is complete and work on the field is ongoing. “About 20 percent of the field work has been completed,” he said. He added that due to the rainy season, work on the field has slowed down somewhat.
According to the agreement, the construction of the stadium must be completed by the upcoming 23rd of Poush. Himalayan, Kalinchok, and BBR companies have jointly taken the contract. The construction cost is Rs 785,091,000. Due to delays in budget allocation from the provincial government, payments were halted and work could not proceed for about two months. “We are committed to completing the work within the stipulated time. However, there were some disruptions in between, which caused work to stop for two or three months. That should not happen again,” said Project Engineer Dharmendra Gupta, working on behalf of the construction company. After the Bagmati Provincial Government provided Rs 90 million for the stadium last Asar, work resumed.
The metropolitan city has allocated Rs 150 million for the stadium in the current fiscal year. Therefore, unless there are payment issues, there should not be any major problems, according to Gupta. The stadium under construction will have a capacity of 16,000 spectators.
On Magh 16, 2075, an agreement was signed in Kathmandu to build a cricket stadium in Rampur, Chitwan. The stadium is being constructed on 20 bighas of land registered under Tribhuvan University but used by the Agriculture and Forestry University. Bharatpur Metropolitan City had planned to build the stadium in agreement with the Dhurmus Suntali Foundation.
After the land was made available, the Dhurmus Suntali Foundation announced that it would build the stadium within two years at a cost of around Rs 3 billion by raising funds from Nepalis at home and abroad. The stadium to be built in this way was planned to have a capacity of 30,000 spectators. However, after facing difficulties in raising funds, the foundation stopped construction work from Bhadra 2078.
On Poush 2 of the same year, the foundation wrote to the metropolitan city to transfer ownership of the stadium. Less than a year after work began, the COVID-19 pandemic started. As the expected support did not materialize, and with Rs 571.2 million worth of work completed but Rs 184.3 million in outstanding dues, the Dhurmus Suntali Foundation withdrew from the stadium construction. That debt has still not been settled.
On Kartik 21, 2080, the metropolitan city reached an agreement with the Bagmati Provincial Government to complete the construction of the stadium. Immediately after the agreement between the provincial government and the metropolitan city, on Kartik 23, the federal government decided to advance the Gautam Buddha Cricket Stadium as a national pride project. Eight months after that, an agreement was signed with the construction company, and the current work has been progressing since then.
