KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Rugby (MR) wants to have a meeting with Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh to discuss the problems faced in the delayed construction of the country's first rugby stadium.
MR president, Amir Amri Mohamad said a letter about the meeting will be sent to Hannah next week while the paperwork related to the latest status of the construction of the rugby stadium in Precinct 13, Putrajaya will be presented at the meeting later.
"If you follow the developments, we have an allocation for the construction of the stadium, but there is a problem with the land (after being inspected by the contractor, it was delayed).
So we will send a letter for a meeting with Hannah next week," he said at a celebration of the MR executive council at a hotel here today (January 11).
Amir Amri, however, expects that the cost of the stadium's construction may have increased compared to the RM17 million in allocation as announced by the Youth and Sports Ministry which was then led by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman back in 2019.
The national rugby stadium that will be built in Precinct 13, Putrajaya, will be equipped with facilities such as a gymnasium, treatment centre, commercial space and training field to be implemented in stages and can accommodate up to 5,000 spectators at a time.
In the meantime, Amir Amri said he will also discuss with Hannah the intention of making the Bukit Jalil National Stadium the official venue for the 2024 Asian Rugby Championship (ARC) Premier Division for the national squad's match against Hong Kong on June 1.
"If not (the Bukit Jalil National Stadium), we will look for another stadium and our target is to at least win one match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because they are a new team," he said.
The ARC tournament will see the participation of four teams, namely Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea and the UAE. – Bernama