Refurbishing of the Fatorda stadium for the Lusofonia Games has begun and a tracking system is in place to ensure that deadlines are being met
Fatorda stadium, the venue of the football tournament aswell as the opening and closing ceremony of the Lusofonia games is presentlyundergoing refurbishment to the tune of Rs 46.5 crores. The ground is being re-laid with grass fromBangalore and will be set according to international standards. Speaking to TheGoan, officials at the site said that work was on schedule and it was importantthat they finish it on time to avoid the Rs. 5 lack a day penalty for anydelay.
The dressing rooms at the stadium are being renovated with75% of them having been knocked down and redone as per international standards.The stadium is expected to be given back to the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG)by September end or October. A senior official speaking on condition ofanonymity said that 23,000 chairs were being replaced and major work on thestructure was being done to end the rampant leakage problem plaguing thestructure. He however maintained that the RCC structure was strong and wouldnot require any repair. The 32 toilet blocks were also being refurbished as perinternational standards. In addition RCC tanks with a capacity of 3 to 4 lakhslitres is being constructed as the old one were considered unusable.
As per the contract, the work on the site has to becompleted within 300 days of the contract being signed. According to thecontract, the M Venkatrao Infra project Pvt Ltd responsible for the work willhave to provide maintenance for a couple of years after the project iscompleted. The finance for the project has been cleared by the state governmentand officials in the state government have claimed that not a single rupee hasbeen released by the central government.
With regards to the budget for this project an official saidthe entire budget would not be used due to the quality of the structure. Allexternal work he said would be completed by May and during the monsoons allwork on the interiors would be completed.
With the spectre of corruption hovering over various publicworks in the past, Elvis Gomes, Executive Director said his department was verykeen on avoiding controversy. The technical department he said had checked eachand every proposal and had eliminated jobs that were not necessary to theoverall project thus reducing the cost by Rs.50 crores. He said the technicalteam was checking the progress everyday and giving him a report every two daysto ensure that projects were on time.
The official of the company who did not wish to be namedsaid that the work had to be completed on time since they had no alternativewhich meant they had to work long hours to ensure that the stadia was completedon time.
