The Greater Noida Authority has unveiled plans to transform the city’s sports complex into a ‘centre of excellence’ within the next two months. The upgraded facility will feature an Olympic-size swimming pool, a football field, a cricket field, and a shooting range, providing top-tier amenities for young athletes and sports enthusiasts.
The Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex, spanning 39 acres and built in 2015 at a cost of ₹130 crore, has been inaccessible to visitors and professional athletes for many years due to maintenance issues, posing a significant challenge for the Greater Noida Authority.
Ravikumar NG, the Greater Noida Authority’s CEO, has directed the sports department to initiate upgrades to the complex, aiming to make it accessible to local sports talent and capable of hosting international-level events. “We have issued expressions of interest (EOI) inviting the proposals from expert companies, which can come forward to take responsibility and run each sports wing properly. We want to develop this sports facility as a centre of excellence,” said Ravikumar.
Officials revealed that the authority intends to finalize the company responsible for managing and upgrading the facility in July, with the renovation work expected to begin by the end of July or August. The authority also plans to host T-20 cricket tournaments during this period, increasing the seating capacity at the cricket stadium from 8,000 to 20,000. The stadium has a history of hosting international cricket events.
An Expression of Interest (EOI) document was issued by the authority on October 26, followed by a pre-bid meeting on October 30 to address queries related to the EOI. Despite the bid submission deadline being in November last year, no company has shown interest in the project so far, according to officials.
Currently, due to the lack of maintenance, the state-of-the-art sports facilities remain off-limits to citizens and sports enthusiasts. Harendra Bhati, a member of the sports complex, said that The Greater Noida Authority appeared to lack commitment in managing the facility, as it did not hire an agency to operate it for the past seven to eight years. “We paid the membership fees a decade ago, but still cannot use the facility due to the negligence of officials,” he added. The sports complex, initially intended to open to the public in 2016, has not been accessible due to the authority’s inability to secure a professional agency to manage it.
