NEW DELHI, May 24: For the past 16 years, the multi-crore Players Building at Indira Gandhi Stadium near ITO has been lying unfinished, a prey to official indecision. It was first meant to be a hostel, then a hotel and now finally a government secretariat.But successive governments' confusion on what to do with the edifice is estimated to have led to losses of over Rs 100 crore in project delays and interest lost on idle assets.
Exposed to the vagaries of nature, the facade has developed faults and the interior walls are cracked, reinforcing these will be an additional drain on the public exchequer.
The 600 room Player's Building is spread over an area of 38,000 square meters. The construction was suspended prematurely in 1982, and the ambiguity on who would occupy the premises ended only recently when the Delhi Government decided to move its secretariat there.
The Public Works Department has been given about a year to deliver this building to the government. But engineers think the deadline is unrealistic. ``It takes a lot of effort to bring a building neglected for the past 16 years back to normal. The resurrection of the old building itself will take two years, and another year for the renovation to be completed,'' said a PWD official on the site.
The problem has been compounded by the fact that the facade has been damaged because of corrosion. ``The building have no protective coat of paint outside or regular maintenance work. The neglect has made it a victim of corrosion due to the weather,'' he said.
Left without adequate security the building also fell prey to theft and vandalism with most of the wooden fixtures disappearing over a period of time.
Originally planned as a sports hostel for the Asiad '82, the building could not be used for housing the sportspersons since the Delhi Development Authority failed to stick to the deadline set for its completion.After the Asiad, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) was left with the incomplete structure that had now lost its utility.
Attempts were, subsequently, made to use it for a hospital and the Delhi Administration even set up the Indraprastha Hospital Corporation for the purpose.
The plan was, however, rejected after experts strongly objected to the idea of setting up a hospital in such a highly-congested and polluted area, that too inside a sports complex.
The government eventually entered into an agreement with the Apollo Hospital which came up in Sarita Vihar.
Around three years ago, SAI floated the tenders for leasing out incomplete property for a star hotel and even received proposals from some big hoteliers.
The plan again ran into rough weather as the Union Urban Development Ministry demanded more cost for the land, saying it was given to the SAI at a nominal lease fee for building a hostel, and not a hotel.
