Hyderabad: On the lines of 'Howdy Modi!', the newly revamped Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad is set to host US President Donald Trump in the much-awaited 'Namaste Trump' event.
About the Stadium
Motera stadium rechristened as Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium is located in the Motera area of Ahmedabad. This iconic stadium, owned by Gujarat Cricket Association, is a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then president of the Gujarat Cricket Association and Chief Minister of Gujarat.
This distinctive prodigious stadium initially opened with a seating capacity of 50,000. Later, it was upgraded to have the world's largest seating capacity of 1,10,000. Melbourne cricket ground being the second-largest has a seating capacity of 1,00,024.
Salient Features
Revamp: The stadium was demolished and under construction since 2015 for a big-scale renovation. It is spread across 63 acres of land with three entry points. Besides, it has an Olympic sized swimming pool, four dressing rooms and 75 corporate boxes. It will be the first of its kind that this stadium has a unique feature of installing LED lights instead of usual floodlights at cricket grounds.
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Cost: Built at an estimated cost of USD 100 million, the stadium has other exciting features like state-of-art dressing rooms, food courts and hospitality areas in each stand. It will also have two smaller cricket practice grounds beside the main ground.
Parking Stats: Additionally, the stadium will also have the largest vehicle parking within the stadium premises with a capacity of 3,000 cars and 10,000 two-wheelers and will have a huge ramp designed to facilitate the movement of around 60,000 people simultaneously. Outside of the main ground, the stadium will have additional features including an indoor practice pitches for unfavourable weather conditions, badminton and tennis courts, squash arena, table tennis area and a clubhouse.
''Sky-walk", a part of the Motera Metro Station project, will be completed after September 2020. This will allow the crowd to directly enter the Motera Stadium within 300 meters from metro stations eliminating the need to get on the roads.
According to White House, the India visit of President Trump accompanied by the First Lady Melania Trump on February 24-25 will deepen the US-India friendship highlighting the strong and enduring bonds between the American and Indian people.
