The Bangalore Football Stadium is set to get a face-lift as the new artificial turf reached the venue here on Saturday.
The stadium had been crying out for a new turf for sometime now and DH had reported that the new turf, manufactured by Limonta, had left via the sea route from Italy two days before the country went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It was difficult to get this done, but the turf has arrived and we have taken all the precautionary measures against Coronavirus as it has traveled from Italy," said the Karnataka State Football Association president NA Harris, adding that the turf would be disinfected.
The turf, according to sources, is likely to have cost the KSFA Rs 1.75 crores from their own funds. The contractor who won the tender, Syncotts, now has the responsibility of installing the turf.
With the pandemic forcing sports to shut down, the KSFA are looking to get the turf installed as quickly as possible with an eye on what the government has in store on May 17 when the lockdown 3.0 ends.
"We will remove the old turf, check the base and repair places where it's required before the new one is laid," said KSFA secretary M Satyanarayan.
"It will take maximum 20 days because the markings and the base are already there. Sub base has to be levelled so that water doesn't stagnate. That's the main thing," Satyanarayana said adding that with around 150 clubs under KSFA's umbrella, artificial turf was the only option as maintaining a natural grass with such high amount of games would be extremely difficult.
In addition, the KSFA also has plans to improve the stadium once the turf is relaid.
"Once we put the turf, we want to change the lights and plans are in place for that," confirmed Harris. "We are planning to make more changes to the stadium but we are just waiting to see how and when we come out of the Covid-19 situation. Because social distancing means there is no football."