Islamabad residents are outraged at the goings on at the city’s celebrated Multi Purpose Sports Center.
The center was inaugurated four years ago and was managed by an internationally known sports management company. Very quickly, the “Multi” as it came to be known, became the sporting heart of Islamabad.
Every month football leagues were organised in which up to 48 teams participated on its astro turf field. Islamabad Open tennis tournaments were held annually as were basketball events. Sports activity continued until the early hours of the morning on the weekends.
To top it off, the management company earned for CDA, over Rs four million in profits. None of the other 18 sports facilities has ever paid a penny to the CDA. After three years, as the Multi was beginning to earn a profit, the CDA sports authorities stepped in. They insisted that the Supreme Court had ordered that the facility be run by the CDA itself albeit they conveniently ignored that the other 18 grounds continued to be run by citizen committees or teams.
About a year ago, the CDA took over the facility. They told the management company that since they were to be given the facility back in due course, the CDA would use its offices, generators and even some staff, because the CDA found themselves incapable of running the facility. In no time, the facility deteriorated to the extent that none of the grounds and courts were playable. Players were getting injured and the CDA was lucky to avoid lawsuit by people injured because of the lack of maintenance of the grounds. To make things worse, the CDA officials neglected paying the electricity bills for the past year and eventually the electricity was disconnected. The center has now lost all its activities. No tournaments or leagues have been held in the past year. In fact, all sports activity has ground to a halt.
Instead of earning money, the CDA Sports now owes several lakhs of money to WAPDA, as well as a large amount to the previous management in the shape of deposits and for the use of their equipment and staff. What started out as an exemplary sports facility renowned all over the country as a well organised, clean place where people could come for an evening of sporting relaxation, has been turned into a disaster by the greedy and rapacious CDA employees.
The new Chairman CDA should take immediate notice of this state of affairs before the club members come out on to the streets.
