National Sports Council Tower
PM opens NSC Tower
Unb, Dhaka
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday said the diplomatic importance of sports is enormous in the present-day world and the government has taken various development steps keeping that in mind."Bold steps into international playgrounds can make a country familiar in the outside world. Sports persons can keep meaningful contributions towards making friendship with one country to another," she said inaugurating the newly constructed NSC Tower at Purana Paltan. On August 7, 2003, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the 20-storied building on a 2-bigha land on the north side of the Bangabandhu National Stadium, involving about Tk 41 crore funded by the National Sports Council (NSC). Ten bottom floors of the Tower would be used as sports establishments, including gymnasium, library, auditorium, media room and NSC offices, while the rest 10 would be used for commercial purposes. The function was told that the monthly income from the 10 commercial floors occupying some 1 lakh square feet could be between Tk 25-30 lakh. The building has two basements for only car parking. Addressing the inaugural function, the Prime Minister said apart from development and expansion of infrastructure, her government has given emphasis on grooming skilled players through competitions at all levels in villages, unions, upazilas, districts and schools and colleges. She called on the players, sport organisers and managers to work together to make the government initiative of preparing skilled players across the country a success. Khaleda Zia said her government in last five years gave top priority to two things of the sports sector -- constructing necessary infrastructure for sports and improving the standard of sports. She said sports are not only the instruments for recreation but also enormously helpful practice for keeping the body and mind fit. Chaired by State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman, the function was addressed, among others, by Housing Minister Mirza Abbas, Mayor Sadek Hossian Khoka and Joynal Abedin Faruk, MP. Ministers, sportsmen, sports organisers, leaders of different sports associations were present at the function. Earlier, the Prime Minister inaugurated the NSC Tower by unveiling the opening plaque.
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