Rourkela to get Rs 600 crore facelift before 2023 Hockey World Cup

NEW DELHI: What Indian state of Odisha is doing is terms of hosting international sports tournaments is setting new standards. If not already, the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup will ensure the state holds a special place on the list of sporting venues.
There are multiple examples where multi-disciplinary events like the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games became a region's source of development.But in the case of Odisha, it can be credited to just one sport -- hockey.
Last month, the FIH awarded India the hosting rights of the men's World Cup for a second straight edition. Amid voices of dissent -- mainly from Europe -- against FIH's decision, Hockey India went on to announce Odisha as hosts for the second consecutive World Cup after 2018. It did irk many in India, because a chance to revive venues like Chandigarh, Mohali, Delhi, Chennai and Lucknow had gone begging. But the addition of Rourkela as the second venue, alongside Bhubaneswar, for the 2023 edition was welcomed to an extent.
To develop Bhubaneswar ahead of the 2018 World Cup, Odisha spent crores (reportedly around Rs 200 crore). But that will become a distant second to Rourkela, which is set to receive a facelift worth over Rs 600 crore.

ROURKELA'S DATE WITH DEVELOPMENT
Plans for airports, roads, bus terminals, museums, parks, multi-level car parking facilities, besides upgradation of the existing stadium in Rourkela are part of the development blueprint in the next four years.
The development plan is part of Odisha government’s marquee Smart City programme, of which both Bhubaneswar and Rourkela are part. The below (approximate) figures are, however, almost certain to cross the cumulative mark of Rs 630 crore, with the fund allocation process for upgrading the Rourkela Steel Plant Stadium and the practice pitch under process.
(As per Rourkela Smart City Ltd. figures provided by the Odisha Tourism Department. The approximate budget for this project was finalised in July 2019)
In addition, the development of airports at Jharsuguda, Jeypore, Utkela and Rourkela is expected to cost around Rs 150 crore. This, however, comes under the central government scheme UDAN.
"The stadium that will host the world cup matches belongs to Rourkela Steel Plant," Vishal Dev, Odisha's commissioner-cum-secretary for sports and tourism, told Timesofindia.com. "We have already written to them for upgrading the stadium to FIH standards. The practice pitch is about a kilometer and a half away from the main stadium and that will also be upgraded to FIH standards."
The main stadium in Rourkela has a capacity of approximately 25,000.
The distance between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela is around 350 km, with the nearest functional airport in Jharsuguda, which is 135 km from Rourkela, about 2.5 hours away by road. At present, the airport in Rourkela has a single runway and not handling any commercial flights. Besides in-city development, these logistical hurdles will need the most attention.
"Rourkela has been included under the UDAN scheme and hopefully by 2023, the airport at Rourkela will be operational with scheduled commercial flights," said Dev. "In any case, the infrastructure at that side of the state is brilliant and once we have air connectivity between Rourkela and Bhubaneswar, things will be very smooth."

CORPORATE HELP MINIMISING USE OF TAX-PAYERS' MONEY
Development costs are often largely covered through tax-payer's money. Odisha's Sports Director Vineel Krishna, who is also the Managing Director of Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), though has assured that it's the corporate sector that's bearing most of the burden of expenses.
OMC, a public sector undertaking, also holds stakes in the Hockey India League franchise Kalinga Lancers, besides being the leading state agency to officially sponsor the Indian men's and women's hockey teams until 2022, as well as the 2018 men's Hockey World Cup.
"We have been fortunate to get substantial corporate support for hosting major tournaments and therefore, we haven’t taken a lot of money from the government exchequer," Krishna had said in a recent interview with Timesofindia.com.
"It's not that the government has spent a huge amount of money. It's the corporate (sector) also that has come forward for the same. We really haven’t come across any opposition with regards to Odisha hosting sporting events, that gets the state a lot of visibility and at the same time promote tourism in the state," he added.
STAKEHOLDERS AT GRASSROOT LEVEL SHOULD ALSO BENEFIT AMID DEVELOPMENT
In the middle of such development to host a hockey tournament, questions are bound to be asked as to how the sport itself benefits, especially at the grassroot level.
No doubt the endeavour to promote a sporting culture has been showcased in Odisha's effort that has seen them host tournaments like the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships, the 2018 U-18 girls Asia Rugby 7s Championship and the 2019 AIFF 4-nations Women's Gold Cup, besides major hockey events.
However, how this concentrated push to turn Odisha into an international sports hosting superpower helps the stakeholders at the grassroot level will always be examined. In other words, the boost that the planned sports infrastructure will provide to young athletes, coaches and various sports administration staff of the state well after the 2023 World Cup is over.

Odisha's love for hockey in particular of course stems from the fact that the state is considered one of the primary nurseries of the sport in India. And with so much hockey history in the soil of the Sundergarh district, a first World Cup in Rourkela will only add to its already glorious hockey heritage.
Perhaps keeping that in mind, the announcement to lay artificial turf in 17 districts of Sundergarh was made in 2018 and reiterated again this year when Odisha was confirmed as the host of the 2023 men's World Cup as well.
This will add to the above estimated development budget, but at the same time also provide quality training facilities for the region's youth for years to come, once completed.
According to the sports department in Odisha, work for that has been awarded to Public Sector Undertaking WAPCOS (Water and Power Consultancy Services) Limited.

The construction timelines include planning of the (high performance) centres too. So while the announcement (to lay artificial turf in 17 districts) was made last year, the department didn't rush the process of identifying the sites and checked their feasibility, besides finalising the type of turfs and building designs.
The turfs reportedly have already arrived and are waiting to be laid.
Besides this, grassroot level initiatives, in coordination with the Naval Tata Hockey Academy, like the ones recently inaugurated in the Bir Birsa Munda Yuva Sangathan Ground Bargaon in Gurundia and Bishop Herman Mission Primary School in Barsuan block should keep hockey in safe hands in Sundergarh.