CDA fast-tracks Islamabad’s first cricket stadium, orders rate review before work orders
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority has moved to accelerate work on Islamabad’s first cricket stadium, directing its consultant to quickly determine whether the contractor’s quoted construction rates are reasonable before work orders are issued.
The proposed venue is planned near D-12 at the foothills of the Margalla Hills in Zone III. According to the CDA, the stadium will be modelled on Dubai International Stadium and will have a capacity of 35,000 spectators.
A joint venture of Habib Construction Service and ZKB-EA has emerged as the lowest bidder for the structure work, including a three-kilometre road network, with a bid of Rs8.9 billion. The project’s PC-I estimates the total cost at Rs11.9 billion, while the covered area is planned at more than 600,000 square feet.
The consultative meeting was chaired by CDA member environment Abdullah Khurram Niazi and attended by the consultant, contractor and relevant civic agency officials. During the meeting, Bills of Quantities, the scope of work and other project components were discussed as the authority sought to complete the rate reasonability process.
The project site lies outside the Margalla Hills National Park but falls within Zone III, where clause 4(3)(b) of the ICT Zoning Regulations 1992 bars land-use changes except for recreation, conservation and preservation. CDA officials maintain the cricket stadium qualifies as a recreational project.
The wider 175-acre site had been conceived as an Olympic Village with multiple sports facilities and hotels, while about 50 acres are to be used for the stadium itself. CDA officials said a summary seeking federal cabinet permission for a hotel and commercial strip had earlier been sent by former chairman Mohammad Ali Randhawa, but the Prime Minister Office returned it with questions. The CDA has since resent the summary with the required information.
CDA spokesperson Shahid Kiani said, “As far as cricket stadium project is concerned, being recreational project, it is permissible use in Zone III and approved by CDA board.” He added that the authority had not yet proceeded on the hotel and commercial parts of the stadium scheme, saying their fate would be decided by the federal government.
On a separate proposal to develop a motel or hotel near the sports complex in Zone III, Kiani said it remained under consideration and no final decision had been taken. He said federal approval would be required and noted that motels already exist in the locality, particularly near Rawal Dam Chowk.
Zone III has remained the subject of a wider planning dispute. In 2022, the CDA board decided that private areas including Shah Allah Ditta and other villages in Zone III should be merged into the nearest Zone I, while Bhara Kau should be made part of Zone IV for construction regulation, but the matter was not taken up by the government.
Officials say that under the original master plan, these areas were marked as green, meaning any land acquired there would have to be preserved for greenery. Kiani said the CDA had raised the concerns of Zone III residents with the federal government during the last four years. He also defended a separate special economic zone proposal in the area, saying the land had been taken from the NIH and approved by the federal government.