Remains of piling at the stadium site. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

April 23: The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is targeting to complete the long-awaited Rajiv Gandhi Mini Sports Complex at Amingaon by August next year.

The stadium project, which started in 1995, came to a halt soon after the construction began. The initial construction work only covered the piling of concrete on the ground for the indoor stadium.

A GMDA source said the authorities would complete the indoor stadium by August next year under the annual 2003-04 plan at an estimated cost of Rs 16 crore.

“We have shortlisted two companies to start the construction work shortly,” the official added.

The two companies bidding for the major construction work of the complex to be set up over an 80-bigha plot of land are the L&T and the Nagarjuna group of companies.

The GMDA will select one of them after the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections in the state are over, he said.

The proposed stadium, after almost nine years of the inauguration of the construction work, is in a very bad shape.

As of now, it is used mostly for holding Bihu functions and other social activities.

The foundation stone of the proposed stadium also does not indicate any date when the project was started. The ground is generally used as a grazing ground and a fishing pond.

To the northeastern side of the complex lies Birla High School, a factory of Tripti Vanaspati and the office of the revenue department and on the south is the Brahmaputra.

However, sports department sources sounded apprehensive about the timely completion of the project.

“We would eagerly look forward to the completion of the project. But the GMDA’s track record does not inspire our confidence. The authorities are fixing the project cost at Rs 16 crore whereas other sources put it at Rs 18 crore,” a source in the directorate of sports said.

The foundation stone of the mini stadium was laid by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 1995.

The state government had sanctioned Rs 2.7 crore of which Rs 1 crore was released by the directorate of sports and the rest was kept in revenue deposits.