Indian Prime Narendra Modi formally inaugurated TransStadia in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The multi-purpose sports complex hosts a 20-000 seater state-of-the-art football stadium, the first of its kind in the state.
The Arena by TransStadia is a Rs550 crore project, built on a unique public private partnership (PPP) model, is hailed as India’s first convertible stadium. It uses a globally patented technology, which converts an outdoor stadium into an indoor arena within 6 minutes at a touch of a button. The facility houses as many as 14 sports, excluding cricket.
Some of the facility’s key features include:
-StadiArena: air-conditioned 32,000 sq. ft. pillar-less multi-purpose indoor arena
-T-box: modular and retractable seating systems
-Turf Protector – world’s only turf protection system manufactured from truly translucent HDPE material, it allows for continuous photosynthesis, which ensures optimal turf health, together with a 30-year UV degradation guarante
The project is built on a defunct Abad Dairy property—measuring about 9 acres—in Maninagar, the constituency represented by Modi when he was the chief minister. The arena boasts of a Fifa standard natural turf with a seating capacity of 20,000, including patented expertise that enables the conversion of a section of the stadium into a 4,000 pillar-less multi-purpose indoor venue.
The venue also lays great emphasis on sustainable development through water conservation by rainwater harvesting, mist fire-fighting and zero waste water discharge with a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant and water treatment plant.
It ensures decreasing load on water resources by reusing and recycling 100 per cent of used or treated water.
It provides for energy-efficient building by providing terrace gardens and energy-efficient equipment.
Apart from 70,000 square feet of area for retail that will be sub-leased soon for various outlets, the work for building a 150-room four-star hotel is also on. A membership drive for an exclusive club is also underway for a fee of Rs6 lakh per family and as so far over 400 members have signed up.
Built on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) model with a debt:equity ratio of 2:1, the company aims to break-even in about six to years.
Complete with a temperature-controlled swimming pool and 16,000 sq. ft. body transformation centre and a training and rehabilitation centre, the facility caters for 14 sports including volleyball, basketball, squash, table tennis, tennis and amongst others.
The land for the project, given on a lease for 35 years at a nominal price, was allotted in 2013 following a state cabinet approval in 2011. As per the concession agreement signed with the Gujarat government’s tourism department, TransStadia will give minimum 2% of their revenue to the state authorities for the development of sports in Gujarat.
It is India’s first PPP model urban sports infrastructure project. The Arena project has drawn inspirations from several sports complexes across the world including the UK’s Wembley Stadium, Tokyo Dome of Japan and Amsterdam Arena in the Netherlands.
