dehradun the uttarakhand sports department intends to hand over the rajiv gandhi international cricket stadium presently under construction at maharana pratap sports college in raipur into private hands on finance operate and transfer fot basis for a period of 45 years in order to raise money for developing the mega cricket facility in the city the sports department has invited bids to select the concessionaire or developer who can invest rs125 crore into the project and also build and maintain a fourstar hotel somewhere close to the stadium the state government has formed a society named rajiv gandhi international cricket stadium and sports complex society rgics to execute the project at an estimated cost of rs 240 crore it is to be noted that the government has already committed an investment of rs 115 crore that includes a rs 50 crore grant from ongc private construction firm shapoorji pallonji and company spcl was entrusted with the task of building the stadium in november 2013 when asked about the reason behind inviting bids for handing over the cricket facility to a private player sports minister dinesh agarwal told toi its a very big project and it needs huge investment for development and maintenance the government also intent to earn money through it as the concessionaire or developer will have to share its revenue with it annually moreover the highest revenue share shall constitute the sole criteria for evaluation of financial bids on the question of whether state or local level matches would be allowed inside the stadium by the developer the sports minister said that it will solely depend on the quality and scale of the tournament happening according to the tender document floated by the sports department the scope of work for the project shall broadly include finance operate and transfer the international cricket stadium and sports complex consisting of ice rink facility club house and swimming pool moreover the developer will have to design build operate and transfer the luxury hotel near the stadium the developer will be provided an area of approximately 40 acres for the implementation of the entire project