Stadium Sultan Mizan Gong Badak

ONCE there were two football stadiums in Terengganu but now there may be none.
The state football teams have just lost their home venue when the roof of the RM292 million Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Gong Badak collapsed yesterday morning, just over a year after its completion.

The old Sultan Nasiruddin Shah Stadium is presently under renovation and unfit to host Super or Premier league matches.

But Terengganu Football Association secretary Abdullah Salleh said all is not lost as negotiations have started with the Kuala Terengganu City Council to hold off renovation works at least until the end of the football season.

“Since it will take a long while before we can use the stadium in Gong Badak again, we have to do whatever it takes to prepare the old stadium for our home matches,” said Abdullah.
“Time is not on our side as our President’s Cup squad are hosting Kuala Lumpur on June 11 to be followed with another President’s Cup home fixture between T-Team and Perlis a day later.”

Terengganu Super League team manager Shaikh Ahmad Tajuddin Shaikh Yusoff said the old stadium will most likely not get FA of Malaysia’s approval as most of the gates and fences have been removed.

“Chances are we have to put everything back in place before the next Super League home match against KL Plus on June 16,” Shaikh Ahmad said while expressing shock at the collapse.

“Who would have thought that the supposedly state-of-the-art stadium could only last for about a year.”

Sultan Mizan Stadium Management Board chief executive officer Arpin Draman said fortunately that no event was being held at the 50,000 capacity stadium.

Meanwhile, the 34th Public Institute of Higher Learning Games which begin today will still take place, albeit at a different venue.

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu deputy registrar Zakaria Ibrahim said the track and field and “tug of war” will be held at a training field nearby, while the bowling tournament has been moved to the Terengganu Equestrian Resort and KT Bowl.

The games were supposed to be held at the stadium. Some 5,000 officials and athletes from 21 institutions will be participating in the games which end on June 13.

The 10-day event will be officiated by Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

KUALA TERENGGANU: The roof of the just completed RM300mil Stadium Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin collapsed early Tuesday.

While no one was ingured and a few cars damaged, overall damage was estimated at RM35mil.

Works Minister Datuk Shaziman Mansor said his ministry would have no problems working with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the incident.

“The CIBD (Construction and Industrial Development Board) of the Ministry has been tasked to form an investigation team with certified architects to probe why this happened,” he said after visiting the site Tuesday.

He said that as the stadium, popularly known as the Gong Badak stadium, was just completed, the contractor, a South Korean firm, was still responsible for repair works.

“This incident has sullied Malaysia’s name abroad. It shouldn’t have happened,” he said.

Meanwhile, a sports meet involving staff of local universities starting Wednesday has been called off following the roof collapse.

The frame of the roof of the 20,000-seat stadium, popularly known as the Gong Badak Stadium, came crashing down at 8am. The worst damage was at the east wing.

There were no reported injuries among the 50-odd staff of the RM300mil stadium but a few cars that were parked underneath it were damaged.

Police have cordoned off the roads leading to the stadium.

Batu Burok assemblyman Dr Syed Azman has called on the relevant authorities to investigate the incident.

The stadium was completed in the nick of time for the state to host the Malaysia Games in June last year.