News Desk
The Maldives will build an international-standard cricket stadium at Gulhifalhu with aid from Pakistan, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu said at a news conference at the President’s Office. The pledge follows an earlier, well-intentioned offer from India to construct a stadium—a major development initiative that ultimately hit a dead end in Malé before ground could be broken.
The Pakistani commitment comes from President Muizzu’s state visit to Islamabad from 20 to 22 October, when the two governments signed 20 memorandums of understanding. One covers cooperation in sport. President Muizzu said practical work under the agreement would begin soon. The sports minister, Abdulla Rafiu, told local outlet Mihaaru News that the plot at Gulhifalhu had been chosen and that the Pakistan Cricket Board would send a delegation to carry out feasibility studies. The announcement, as reported, did not say what the stadium would cost or how many people it would hold.
Gulhifalhu is a reclaimed lagoon about four kilometres from Malé. The previous government planned it as the site of a new commercial port, and much of the reclamation was financed through an Indian line of credit. President Muizzu moved the port to Thilafushi shortly after taking office, saying Gulhifalhu was not the most feasible location.The land is now being prepared for housing and will be connected to the capital by the Thilamalé Bridge—a landmark infrastructure project financed by India—which is slated to open in 2027. A stadium funded by Pakistan will stand on ground that India helped to create.
India’s offer dates to March 2019, when its late foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, visited Malé. The government of Ibrahim Mohamed Solih asked for a cricket stadium, and India agreed to build one in Hulhumalé. It became one of the first projects under an $800 million line of credit that President Solih had secured during a state visit to India in December 2018. The Indian High Commission said the ground would seat 22,000 people. Reports put the cost at $40 million to $45 million, and in 2022 India’s Exim Bank said a contractor would be chosen within three months. Cricket was part of the diplomacy as well. The diplomatic effort drew heavily on President Solih’s personal passion for the game. An active cricket personality in his own right, he was invited to an Indian Premier League match in Bengaluru in April 2019, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented him with a bat signed by the Indian national squad.
Maldives has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 2017, and its matches have had full Twenty20 international status since 2019. It still has no purpose-built ground with natural turf. Its national team played its most recent matches this month in Malaysia. At home, it uses Ekuveni in Malé, a multi-purpose ground with an artificial pitch inside a running track.
