KUALA LUMPUR – Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has said she wants state excos to properly evaluate the costs of maintaining the football fields in their states before agreeing to the ministry’s offer to upgrade each state football stadium with Zeon Zoysia grass.
Hannah said the ministry is currently waiting for each state’s response to the offer to upgrade each state football stadium’s pitch with the same grass used at Sultan Ibrahim Stadium in Johor and soon Bukit Jalil National Stadium.
The offer will see the ministry bear the cost of the upgrades, while the yearly maintenance costs will be borne by the respective state excos.
“To be fair to them (state excos), we have to give them time to discuss if they want to accept the offer. It is not just about merely accepting the offer, as they will have to keep the maintenance costs in mind.
“There is no point accepting the offer if the maintenance is not feasible,” she said during the Daikin International Badminton Championship today.
Besides improving playing conditions for the teams in each state, Hannah said, another important aspect of the offer is the promotion of a culture of maintenance.
“When we have such a culture, we won’t waste money in the long run and constantly build new facilities.
“With the limited funds we have, we need to see how we can improve the current stadiums before building new ones. Why build new venues that can’t be maintained only to let them become white elephants?” she asked.
Hannah added that the offer to upgrade stadiums is the first step in tackling poor pitch conditions, which is an issue across the country.
“Most of the stadiums are facing this issue. If we want to attract more people to sports, we have to have good infrastructure.
“For this to happen, there should be adequate funding, and every party involved must play their roles accordingly,” she added.
The Segambut MP said her goal is for each sport to have its own home turf, and that the ministry is now working to inventory all government sporting facilities in the country.
“After the inventory is done, we will pair them up with the national sports associations to make sure that the funds can be matched.
“Everyone says that they don’t have a proper place to train. For example, swimmers can only train in Selangor at the moment, even though there are many athletes from many states.
“I have resurrected the meeting sessions with state excos, as both the federal and state governments need to work together to succeed,” she said.
Earlier, Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim praised the ministry’s efforts to ensure stadiums around the nation have good pitches, adding that poor football fields is also the reason why Malaysia does not get to host international competitions.
He also mentioned that the cost of a good football pitch does not exceed RM1 million, while the maintenance cost is approximately RM240,000. – The Vibes, March 9, 2023.
