The Punjab Cricket Association has drawn up an ambitious plan to expand the north pavilion of the PCA stadium at Mohali near Chandigarh. This was decided at the executive committee meeting of the association held on Sunday at the stadium.

Giving this information after the meeting, MP Pandove, secretary of the association, said that the project, expected to cost about Rs 8 crore, will be completed in three phases over two years.

In the first phase, a basement hall, with a capacity of holding a banquet for 1500 persons, would be built on the north side of the modern stadium. This hall, which will be the largest in the region, would be built in such a way that it can be divided into three smaller halls. This basement hall is expected to cost Rs 82 lakh.

In the second phase, the north pavilion would be built and all activities of the PCA would shift to this new building and the space so vacated in the current main pavilion would be put to use by the PCA Club for providing more facilities to the members. This phase would cost Rs 1.25 crore. In the third phase, more rooms and other facilities would be added to the north pavilion.

He further said that the PCA would be seeking Rs 3 crore from the Borad of Control for Cricket in India under its new infrastructure policy. At the moment, the PCA had about Rs 2.5 crore in its kitty and it would use this money to commence work for now.

The meeting also agreed to allocate Rs 8 lakh to the Punjab Ranji team scheduled to tour Kenya from July 22 to August 12. The meeting also reviewed the progress of the regional coaching camps conducted by the Association at Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

Pandove was the of the opinion that good talent had been spotted in the camps. The executive also approved to give more money to the districts in case they wanted to develop infrastructure. The subsidy provided by the state unit would be to the tune of 50 percent of the expenses incurred by the district units.

The PCA also decided that players, who participated in various inter-district tournaments, and the official umpires and scorers would be given a higher food allowance.

© CricInfo