Ozone bid gets KSFA approval

Rs 675-Cr proposal awaits govt nod now

The Karnataka State Football Association on Friday accepted the bid from Ozone Group Football Academy Private Limited to rebuild the Bangalore Football Stadium, and recommended it to the State Government for its approval.

After receiving bids from three consortiums -- Tuscan Consultants and Developers Private Limited, JSW Bengaluru Football Club Private Limited and Ozone Group --  the tender scrutiny and evaluation committee constituted by KSFA decided to approve the tender submitted by Ozone Group.

Under the deal costing a whopping Rs 675 crore, Ozone Group will build the stadium on a leave and license basis for a period of 30 years, with the construction to be completed by March 31, 2017, so as to allow Bengaluru to be a contender for hosting the 2017 Under-17 World Cup matches.

While KSFA will be the sole owners of the stadium, Ozone Group will be allowed to recover the costs through revenue generated by building commercial establishments within the stadium. Ozone Group will also get to use the stadium for 100 days every year.

“We were very strict about the leave and license policy,” said AR Khaleel, president of the KSFA.

“If it was not the case, we would have allowed JSW to rebuild the stadium as per the previous plan.”
JSW’s tender this time was found to have not satisfied the technical qualification criteria set out under the tender notification, a KSFA release said. Tuscan Consultants and Developers had submitted a proposal of Rs 525 crore.

While the main idea behind this project is to earn the right host matches for the U-17 World Cup, it remains to been seen if Ozone can complete such a big project in such short time.

The tender documents have been sent to the State Government for approval. “We will be meeting the chief minister soon. We are confident of starting the work as soon as possible,” added Khaleel.

Rebuilding of the stadium is crucial to Bengaluru’s hopes of hosting the Under-17 World Cup matches, though it is not certain that even if it is built in time, the city will get the matches.

According to top FIFA officials, Bengaluru and Chennai have been given the status of standby venues for the tournament.