Turkmenistan held a groundbreaking ceremony in its capital Ashgabat Friday ahead of the construction of an Olympic sports complex which it says will be the largest sport complex in Central Asia.
Today’s Zaman reports the construction of the project, to be completed in three phases, will cost about $5 billion.
The Olympic stadium will reportedly be constructed according to the standards of the International Association of Athletes Federation, the International Football Federations Association, and the International Olympic Committee.
The site will contain an Olympic stadium that will hold 60,000 spectators, a gym complex accommodating 15,000, tennis courts, swimming pools, a Paralympics complex, and more.
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, said the centre will accommodate about 30 facilities, including a hockey palace with a capacity for 10,000 people, a large swimming pool, a cycle track, and a tennis court.
The first phase of the project has already begun and will cost 1.97 billion.
Erol Tabanca, chairman of the Turkish company Polimeks Insaat that will oversee the project, said they expect to finish all three phases by 2016 and that Ashgabat will host the 2017 Asian Olympics. He said, “the most important characteristic of the Ashgabat Olympic complex is that it will be built in the city centre in conformance with the city’s architecture. The Ashgabat Olympic complex will also be the biggest Olympic complex in Central Asia”.
