BFS Construction to Start Soon

Bengaluru, Jan 11, 2016, DHNS:

After eight months of back-and-forth dialogues, delayed permissions and a partnership change,

Bangalore Football Stadium (BFS) is set to be reborn as a modern venue.

Permission to begin work has been delayed for eight months now but president of the KSFA, A R Khaleel,

said on Monday that he was positive that the rebuilding process will begin in the next 30 days.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Khaleel said, “The stadium is to be demolished completely

and rebuilt according to the norms set by FIFA. Our clearances are being processed at a good pace and

we should be able to begin work in the next 30 days or so.”

While he added the process should take a period of 16 months for completion, there is also a plan in the

pipeline to upgrade Kanteerava Stadium in the next three or four months, with a view to presenting it as

a candidate to host the U-17 World Cup in 2017.

“The entire process of rebuilding the Bangalore Football Stadium will take 16 months as we will have to

adhere strictly to the recommendations set forth by Javier Ceppi (Tournament Director, FIFA U-17 World

Cup 2017).”

The Ozone Group, who own the Ozone FC, had won the bid to rebuild the stadium. S Vasudevan,

Chairman and Managing director of Ozone Group, threw light on the project’s progress.

“We have brought in two vastly experienced international firms to assist with the construction and

design aspects. (US-based firm) Hines will be looking after design while East China Architectural Design

and Research Institute (ECADI) will be involved with the construction part.”

“We already have construction teams that have flown in from China and they will be in Bengaluru

through the entirety of the project,” he added.

In response to growing concerns about delays that KSFA has faced, Khaleel said: “We have done our job

perfectly and submitted all the necessary paper work. It is a matter of getting clearances and that is

something that is not in our hands.”

The KSFA president added that an All India U-15 football tournament was slated to be held in the city

later this month.