IANS

New Delhi, Jul 17: The final of the 2011 World Cup will be played here at a state-of-the-art stadium to be built on the banks of river Yamuna at a cost of about Rs.5 billion.

Disclosing this, Lalit Modi, vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said that the board would build the modern stadium - the first that the world's richest cricket board will own.

"We are going to pull out all stops to make sure that by 2011 World Cup final, which will be hosted in this new stadium in Delhi and which has already been decided by the ICC (International Cricket Council) and the four members (World Cup joint hosts), the stadium is ready," Modi said.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were allotted the premier tournament after their joint bid defeated the Australia-New Zealand combine 11-3 in April.

Top officials of the four Asian countries met in London during the ICC annual meetings this month and agreed that the final would be allotted to Indian capital.

They also decided that the two semi-finals would be played in Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium and Colombo's R. Premadasa Stadium, while the opening ceremony would be staged in Dhaka.

The BCCI stadium will be built on a 70-acre subsidised but premium land between the posh Maharani Bagh area and the banks of the Yamuna in south Delhi. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has provided the land.

The actual project started in 2001 and the BCCI even deposited Rs.2.5 million as initial payment with DDA. But the project then slowed down as the Delhi and District Cricket Association was renovating its own Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium, which is nearing completion.

Modi, who is also a member of the stadium project committee, said that work on the new stadium would begin this year.

"We (BCCI) have approved to give the full amount to DDA. It's close to Rs.1 billion for the subsidised land," he said.

Asked about the total cost of the stadium, Modi said: "It's very difficult to say now, but it would be around Rs.4-5 billion for the entire stadium. We are going to build a world-class stadium; it will be one of the best.

"It's too premature to talk in detail because at this stage we are only looking at it with a vision to make a world-class facility. There will be accommodation, club houses, floodlights, academies...there will be world class facilities."

It will be the second time that India would be hosting the cricket World Cup final out of three occasions on which it has organised the tournament.

Kolkata's Eden Gardens hosted the final in 1987, when India successfully organised the World Cup with Pakistan.

India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka hosted the World Cup again in 1996, when the final was played in Lahore.