As many as 11 major players in infrastructure development and sports management companies have evinced interest in setting up a 400-crore international level cricket stadium and sports complex on DFCOM basis in the heart of Lucknow. The cricket stadium will be built as per the latest guidelines issued by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and will have the seating capacity of 50,000 spectators.
To come up in 117 acre, the sports complex is an extension of the state government?s efforts to attract private investment in the state. The complex would have a world-class cricket stadium and other allied sporting facilities such as hockey, football, indoor games, lawn tennis and aquatics spread over 60 acre and the remaining 57 acre will be used for commercial purposes and 20% of this would be for residential complexes.
The project gains significance as the state government has decided to provide the entire 117 acre of the land for the project free of cost. As the project would be coming up at the prime location of Gomti Nagar, the cost of the land that is being offered for free by the state government is expected to cost not less than Rs 200 crore.
Speaking to FE, an official of the Lucknow Development Authority said the companies that have come forward for the first pre-bid conference of the project on Monday included L&T, JP Associates, Sahara India, Eldeco Housing and Infrastructure, Greg Chappell?s NIF Cricket, Ramky Infrastructure, Dev Musko, SE Transstadia, DSC Ltd, Shrishti Infrastructure and Arinem Constructions.
?The fact that the land is being given by the state government free of cost in the heart of the city has made the project highly attractive. It will help make the project more viable,? said the official requesting anonymity, adding the bid parametre would be the upfront premium paid to the state nodal agency.
The project is expected to come up in two years? time and while the state government has decided in principle to liberalise the floor area ratio (FAR) for this project as against the existing norms, a decision in this regard is expected to be taken soon.
All those companies which have a net worth of 80 crore and a turnover of 140 crores for the last three years can bid for the project either individually or as a consortium. A maximum of 5 companies will be allowed to form a consortium.