President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has donated Dh200 million for the expansion of the state-of-the-art Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium in the Al Jazira Sports and Cultural Club.
The President's gesture is in line with the UAE's aspirations of hosting the Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi in January, 2007.
The planned expansion of the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium will see the seating capacity being increased from the current limit of 15,000 to 40,000 spectators. The complex will include two towers of 28 floors each.
The expansion plans also includes a restaurant, hotel and more seating capacity for the stadium.
The construction will be broken up into two phases. The first phase will be undertaken by an English construction company, Atherton Fullerden Leng (AFL), a company which has constructed stadiums for top English Premiership clubs Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, at a cost of Dh86 million.
Construction commences on August 6 and will take 14 months to complete.
The state-of-the-art stand of the stadium was opened in November 2003, when the UAE hosted the Fifa Under-20 World Cup.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday night, Murshid Thani Al Rumaithya, member of the club's board of directors said: "The new expansions are a step in implementing the plans of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and the Honourary President of the club and Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Presidential Affairs and the President of the club to make Al Jazira the best in Asia."
Al Rumaithy expressed the club's gratitude for the President's gesture which was an illustration of his belief that the sector of youth and sport should be provided with the necessary facilities and proper infrastructure to enable the clubs and sports association to host big international events.
"The Al Jazira board of directors are grateful to the President His Highness and to General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for their continuous support to the country's youth and sports sector," he said.
The club's present spectator stands will be demolished from May 15. This means that the club will not be able to host the President's Cup final in May.
Gulf News
