To reduce the burden on the existing stadiums in Bengaluru, five more stadiums are coming up in the city. With this, the city will be having at least 13 outdoor stadiums. The new stadiums are being planned in Devanahalli in North Bengaluru, Gunjur in East Bengaluru, HSR Layout in South Bengaluru, Tavarakere in West Bengaluru and Anjanapura in South Bengaluru near JP Nagar.
“The Kanteerava stadium, which is in the heart of the city, is overburdened. We want to encourage more sports activities, so we have chosen four locations across Bengaluru. With these coming up, sports organizers in these four regions of the city can organize sporting events in their respective areas, so that the traveling time is reduced,’’ N Shivashankara, Commissioner, Youth Empowerment, and Sports told TNIE.
These will be multi-purpose stadiums with facilities for athletic tracks, javelin, discus, volleyball and basketball. According to Shivashankara, they need a minimum of 10 acres for each stadium. “We got funds in the recent state budget. We are soon going to get a Detailed Project Report and tenders will be called. Once the tenders are finalized, we need six months to one year to complete the stadiums. We are hoping that the entire process will be completed within a year,’’ he said.
The Anjanapura stadium will be developed by Bruhat BBMP. “We have identified 35 acres of land belonging to the state government at Anjanpura near JP Nagar in South Bengaluru. It will be mainly for cricket. There is no cricket stadium this side, so we want to have one here that will help local people, especially the youngsters,’’ a BBMP official said.
Bengaluru has eight stadiums at present, including Chinnaswamy Stadium and Alur Stadium. Both are maintained by Karnataka State Cricket Association. Five more stadiums, including Kanteerva stadium (multi-purpose stadium), Hockey Stadium, Bengaluru Football Stadium and Jayaprakash Narayan National Youth Centre at Vidhyanagar on Airport Road, are maintained by the state sports department. Kittur Rani Chennamma sports stadium (multi-purpose) is owned by the BBMP.
