The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has reportedly renewed the lease of the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium — formerly known as the Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP) — courtesy Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. However, the 30-year lease will expire in 2023.
The stadium, which comes under the Karachi Cantonment Board (KCB), was constructed and leased to the PHF in 1963 for 30 years that expired in 1993. The lease was renewed for another 30 years (1993-2023) recently.
Since then, the PHF has continuously made efforts to get the lease renewed but to no avail. Now, a plan to demolish and reconstruct the venue has now been finalised and the work is set to begin next month. However, the lease is expected to end the year the ambitious plan is to be completed.
The stadium houses 62 tenants who have occupied 139 offices and shops in the premises.
A meeting of the representatives of tenants association and the PHF was held on Friday to discuss an amicable evacuation of the former’s belongings from their offices and shops.
“It was agreed that the incumbent tenants will be given preference after the reconstruction of the stadium,” Dawn reported director administration of PHF camp office Mohammad Junaid as saying.
Besides the stadium, he further said, the PHF also possesses the lease of car parking that was given to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases by his predecessor.
