Did PTI build thousands of stadiums in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?

In 2013, Imran Khan announced the construction of , stadiums in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. After this, despite being in government for  years in the province and four years in the federation, the PTI could not fulfill its promise.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan announced in 2013 during a peace match at The Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium in Peshawar that he would build "big playgrounds" in all districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but could not implement it.

After this, the PTI formed the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while in 2018, the PTI again came to power in the province and the then Minister of Sports and Tourism had prepared a plan to build 2019, playgrounds in the province in .

The project to build playgrounds was started in 2017 and every year the PTI government also allocated money in the budget in this regard.

Regarding the construction of sports grounds, PTI ministers used to say on various occasions that these grounds would be built at tehsil and union council level, but only 10 sports grounds could be built during the PTI's 151-year rule in the province.

Apart from the small playgrounds, the arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium, the province's only international cricket stadium, has not been completed even after almost four years.

Last year, Sports Department Director Asfandyar Khattak told Independent Urdu that the stadium would be ready for the 2022 Pakistan Super League matches.

2022 has passed and the PSL of 2023 has also started, but the construction work on Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium is still going on.

According to documents available with Independent Urdu, the government has allocated about Five billion rupees for 151, playgrounds, but more than Two billion rupees have been spent on  playgrounds built so far.

The remaining Rs1.5 billion was later transferred from the Sports and Tourism Department to another department, where the money was used to buy Fortuner vehicles.

Provincial Director Sports Khalid Khan denied this but refused to give further details.

When asked by Independent Urdu, he did not say where the remaining money from the money allocated for playgrounds was spent.

He also refrained from providing details about the playground projects.

Mohammad Ejaz, a journalist who has been reporting sports for the last 10 years, told Independent Urdu that the announcement was made to build the stadium, but in fact, what has been built so far is only 'playing fields'.

Ijaz said: "More than one sports facility is provided in the stadium, while the Playing Field is only an open field, where playing facilities are provided. 

Asked what kind of grounds the PTI government has built, Ijaz said: "The land was purchased, levelled and grassed, a washroom and a small pavilion were built. 

He said that some of these are playing fields or playgrounds that already existed, they have just been renovated.

According to Muhammad Ejaz, out of 151 playgrounds, the entire cost of repairing 116 was not paid to the contractors.

Where were the playgrounds built?

According to the details available with Independent Urdu, 55 of the grounds built at the tehsil level and 17 within the schools, while 29 different sports complexes have been built and small playgrounds have been set up in different districts.

In Peshawar, a ground was built in Tehsil Playground Waliabad and Mira Kachori, one each in Tangi, Shabqadar and Tarangzai in Charsadda.

Similarly, three playgrounds each were set up in Nowshera, Mardan, Karak and Swabi and two each in Kohat and Hangu, while three each in Bannu and Abbottabad and one each in Haripur, Chitral and Malakand were restored.

In this regard, Independent Urdu tried to take the stand of provincial sports director Khalid Khan for three days, but despite seeing and reading the messages from his side, there was no response.

Facilities in built playgrounds

Abdul Qayyum Afridi, a journalist associated with a private TV channel in Peshawar from Khyber district, told Independent Urdu that under the PTI's 1,000 grounds project, a cricket ground was built in Shalman area of Landi Kotal tehsil and Malaguri area of Jamrud.

However, he said that it is not correct to call both grounds because it is just a playground in which a boundary wall has been erected around the field of land, inside which no facilities are available.

"There is no water, no electricity and no other necessary facilities for the players in these playgrounds.

"I personally think that all this was done just to fulfill the numbers, otherwise the playgrounds would not have been like this. 

If any position is sent by the Sports Department to Independent Urdu, it will be included in the report.

When contacted, former PTI provincial minister Kamran Khan Bangash told Independent Urdu that initially there was a plan to build sports grounds at tehsil level but later 1,000 sports grounds were planned at the union council level.

"There was a plan to build playgrounds in all the 130 tehsils of the province, but an ambush plan was made to build , playgrounds and funds were also allocated in the budget for this project," he said. 

However, later according to Kamran Bangash, when the work on the project started, various problems started coming up, so it was decided to review the project.

Kamran said: "It was decided to send the plan to the cabinet for review, but when our (PTI) government ended in the provincial government, the matter remained the same." 

When Kamran was asked about the funds allocated for the construction of 1,000 sports grounds, he said that generally funds for projects are released on a quarterly basis, which are returned if they are not spent.

"Those funds are then diverted to other development projects of the people and that is a set procedure.