Basra Sport City to Host Gulf Cup of Nations | Iraq Business News (original) (raw)

Basra Council has formed a committee to monitor progress of the building work on Basra's new Sports City, which is hoped to host the 21st Gulf Cup of Nations soccer tournament in 2013.

The media director of the council, Hashem Liyabi, told AKnews, that the decision came after getting the official approval to hold the Championship, noting that the project should be completed on time.

The organising committee of the event has approved Basra as the host for the for the year 2013, according AKnews.

Liaybi said that the council is studying all the projects surrounding the sport city, in order to complete all the project's on time, and prepare a suitable atmosphere to host the various team.

The total area of the sport city in Basra is 585 acres and the estimated cost is $550 million [644 billion Iraqi dinars]. It includes two stadiums, one with a capacity of 62,000 spectators, and the other of 10,000. It also includes four stadiums for training and, and 100 apartments.

The contract to build the city was reportedly won by Abdullah Al-Jaburi, a major Iraqi construction contractor, and two American companies: 360 Architecture and Newport Global. The project is expected to be one of the largest sports cities in the Middle East.

(Source: AKnews)