Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof has stated that the project to upgrade the National Football Stadium will begin in March.
Speaking to PSM News, Minister Mahloof said the National Football Stadium upgrade is one of the projects that is being funded by the Line of Credit from India. He said that the government is also working on developing sports complexes in other parts of the country and the speed of progress on the National Football Stadium project has so far been subpar. He said the ministry has received permission to begin the project and is now preparing to open it for bidding while it also focuses on building synthetic tracks in four regions with India’s assistance.
The government of India provided a USD40 million Line of Credit for sports infrastructure development in the Maldives in September. The national stadium was last upgraded in 2014 for the AFC Challenge Cup, which saw the development of a building for the media and VIP rooms. Ministry of National Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure has highlighted safety concerns regarding the stadium. However, only small renovations have been made at the stadium since 2014.
Furthermore, Minister Mahloof said that there have been many requests to increase resources for basketball courts, including the National Basketball Arena. He also said that projects are underway to build three courts including an indoor training centre. He added that the project to develop the National Table Tennis Centre will also begin next year.