Spending spree or spending with purpose?

Once this stadium was a basic concrete structure made to seat as many spectators as possible. Yet, over the years, it has played the role of a theatre of dreams, a national obsession, and hosted anything and everything whenever a big sporting occasion came up. Unfortunately, it has never been bracketed as a centre of sporting excellence or one that people can refer to as a 'state-of-the-art' venue. This popular 'go-to place' is our Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS), which was built in the 1950s primarily for cricket, but eventually turned into the country's premier all-purpose sporting venue post liberation. The 'Big Bowl' in the commercial hub of the capital has gone through numerous facelifts over the years. Unfortunately those facelifts were quick-fixes, based on necessity. The venue, named after the father of the nation Bangabandhu Shekih Mujibur Rahman, has gone through two major renovations in the past two decades. The custodian of the multi-purpose venue spent Tk 34 crore for renovations to host the opening ceremony of the 2011 ICC World Cup. The venue also witnessed the whopping expenditure of Tk 70 crore for renovations, modernisation and strengthening works since 1998. The fundament, for all those renovations, was understandably meant to provide spectators the comfort and safety which a modern venue offers. The BNS is now set for another facelift and to this end, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has prepared an estimated budget of Tk 87 crore, the biggest so far. The budget will be placed before the ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) for approval sometime soon.

However, the burning question, as has always been the case, is whether the sports regulatory body is spending the money on improving things that really do require improvement. Have they prepared the head of expenditures after a thorough assessment of the present condition of the BNS?  After taking a long look at those expenditure heads and in consultation with the stakeholders of the venue, we strongly feel that the authorities need to readdress it if they want a real facelift of the premier venue. We have a few points in our argument, which are solely based on the facilities that a modern venue demands.

Firstly, the venue does not have a gym. It is a shame that the issue has not been addressed thus far and was also ignored this time. In the budget, Tk 25 lakh has been reserved for a 480-square-metre gymnasium's equipment and maintenance. But if you are a regular visitor to the BNS, you will not find a gym there. And if you want to have a proper gym you need considerable space and more money to have the necessary equipments for professional athletes.

Secondly, a modern venue has to be equipped with all the tools to maintain the ground. Unfortunately, the BNS does not have the basic equipments such as rollers, grass cutters, vacuums and water sucking machines to do so. And although a sprinkler system at a cost of Tk 4.38 crore is to be installed according to the budget, in order to make the ground more greenish, soft and smooth, the ground should first be elevated a bit from its existing level so that the waterlogging issue during monsoon season is solved.

Thirdly, the BNS is not only a sporting venue but a heritage site of the country. It is the site of so many historic events -- the one-off Test match between India and Pakistan, Bangladesh's inaugural Test against India, the symbolic fight between the legendary Muhammad Ali and a young Bangladeshi boxer, an international FIFA friendly between Lionel Messi's Argentina and Nigeria, and so many football battles between Mohammedan and Abahani in the domestic front. Sadly though, the BNS does not have a museum to showcase such memorable events. And like every venue of international repute, the BNS should have a museum so that its history can be preserved for new generations to take inspiration from. Though there is no space left at the shop-laden BNS, a museum can still be accommodated, preferably in the space that the Bangladesh Cricket Board used as its headquarters before shifting to Mirpur.

Fourthly, there is no designated space for physically-challenged spectators at the BNS. It is mandatory for a modern venue to have designated chairs and entry/exit ways for physically challenged individuals. Since the National Sports Council (NSC) is going to install new chairs, it should think of reserving a seating arrangement at one section of the gallery for disabled spectators.

Fifthly, the existing urinating issue in the stands, which is in a very bad state, has not been addressed in the renovation budget. The BNS is perhaps the only venue in the word which forces the paying public to use urinals in the open and on top of the gallery. It has got about 30 proper lavatories inside the 20,000-capacty gallery, but those are in pretty bad shape. The ideal situation would be to bring back the original lavatory locations, now occupied by shops.

It is not necessary to increase the budget to accommodate these facilities. It can be done within the existing budget by trimming expenses at other ends.

Obviously, gallery improvement and pitch development will be in the priority list of development work and there is no exception for it in the draft expenditure which collectively includes nearly Tk 39 crore. This amount includes costs of installing sheds over all top-floor galleries, installing new chairs, overall gallery development work and constructing a ticket counter while pitch development will cost nearly Tk 4.38 crore, with the sprinkler system installed to water the ground.

The gallery shed will certainly give spectators more comfort. But if the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium (SBNS) is to be followed, it will be nothing but an ordinary one and more of a viewing obstacle if one watches a game from the Club House ends. Besides, in an effort to minimise viewing obstacles for the paying public, a planned and permanent place should be allocated for the broadcasting cameras.

It is surprising that most of the chairs installed just seven years ago at the BNS for the ICC Cricket World Cup have been damaged due to a lack of proper maintenance. However, more than 30 per cent of chairs in the general gallery are still usable and can save a lot of money. Besides, it is not absolutely necessary to replace the folding VIP chairs (4,800) with new ones. A recent visit gave this reporter the impression that most of the chairs at the VIP gallery, the President's Box and the ICC Box (the cost is estimated at nearly Tk one crore) are in good shape and some repair work is all that is needed.

The BNS has four dressing rooms -- two well furnished and spacious dressing rooms for international games and two tiny ones for domestic matches. Those two domestic dressing rooms are in miserable condition. The budget allotted for the two dressing rooms for domestic games is Tk 67 lakh against the international ones at Tk 81 lakh. Interestingly, the two international dressing rooms only need a minimum facelift against the two neglected ones where there is not enough space to sit, no washroom and no shower facility. Since the BNS hosts two games every day during the football season, it needs four dressing rooms. The need of the hour is to upgrade the domestic dressing rooms and provide those with more space.

Besides, more than Tk 40 crore has been earmarked for spending in areas which can be drastically reduced by not installing a new digital advertisement board and only upgrading the modules of two existing giant screens which were installed in 2010 and 2011. The new PA system will cost Tk 35.54 lakh. Interestingly, you can still find about 34 speakers at the gallery fencing, yet nobody knows whether those are still functional and no one knows what happened to the PA system which was installed in 2011.

A stadium is more than just the sum of its physical parts and more than just a functional building; instead it should be one that is attractive and comfortable. It warrants satisfying certain psychological needs for the athletes, spectators, officials and visitors. We are not against spending, but we are against spending without purpose.