Construction of Pokhara tennis court to resume this week

Published On: June 14, 2019 12:11 PM NPT By: DHAN BASNET


POKHARA, June 14: The construction works of Pokhara Stadium’s tennis court, which was stalled due to lack of budget, is set to resume this week after a hiatus of seven months. 

Kaski District Tennis Association had earlier stalled the work citing lack of budget. 

Surya Bhujel, coordinator of tennis court construction committee and advisor of the association said that the construction of the court is gaining momentum as the money has been released. 

“The construction work didn’t progress for the past seven months. Now as we have received the budget, the work will resume within this week,’’ said Bhujel. 

The NSC had taken initiatives to build the infrastructure calling a tender at the start of the current fiscal year. 

Earlier, the work had been started with Rs 10 million of the first installment. 

Now the NSC released additional Rs 10 million, which is second installment of the project, that has paved the way to resume the work this week, said Engineer Pranish Tamrakar of Western Regional Sports Development Committee. 

The earlier allocated money was used to prepare physical infrastructure. But, the infrastructure has not been readied. 

Only the ground has been leveled. 

“We will now use the money to make the changing room, toilet and hard court,’’ Bhujel said. 

“The estimated total cost of the project is Rs 24 million. We have already spent Rs 10 million for other works. Now additional Rs 10 million will be used to build the remaining infrastructure.’’

The association has made five clay courts inside the Pokhara Stadium. 

The NSC had selected Pokhara to construct the hard court pointing out the necessity of hard court of international criteria. 

The association had sought financial assistance also with other associations. 

They also organized various activities such as Deusi-Bhailo to collect fund to construct the court. 

The Pokhara Hard Court is considered an important venue since tennis needs all three courts—clay, grass and hard—to participate in an international level. 

The association has planned to construct parapet after the completion of the court. 

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) had given the Pokhara Tennis Court the opportunity to organize different events in Pokhara because of its infrastructure. 

Only last year, ITF U-18 Grand Five was organized in Pokhara before holding Veterans Grande Five Tournament on the same venue. 

There is a high chance of organizing the U-18 Grand Five event again, but it requires a court including the changing rooms.

 


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