The Stadium Darul Aman has been scheduled to be demolished in order to make way for a new development project on the site of the stadium.
The new stadium will be more than just a stadium
According to the plans from the Alor Setar City Council, the new development project will be more beneficial to the public. The project will encourage residential, work, and recreational activities, all in the same area.
Apart from that, the project is also aimed at creating a compact and efficient city, one that is also comfortable and a strategic place to live in.
How will the new stadium be different from the existing one?
Based on the plans laid out by the Alor Setar City Council, the new stadium will be equipped with a new roof, a new field with the size of 68 metres x 105 metres, a synthetic track, dressing rooms, corporate rooms, treatments rooms, kiosk and retail space, as well as a huge parking space.
The stadium is also expected to hold between 60,000 and 100,000 people, as opposed to the current capacity of 30,000.
Can’t they just renovate?
For a stadium that holds so much history and memories, it is very tragic that it has to be torn down. Kedah’s leader of the opposition has stepped forward to suggest upgrades as opposed to demolishing the entire stadium.
He noted that renovating the stadium will be more economical, especially during this time when the economy is not doing so well and we’re already plagued by the high cost of living.
“If the main purpose of building a new stadium is to accommodate more people, I think it’s absolutely irrelevant,” Pokok Sena’s MP Datuk Mahfouz Omar told Sinar Harian.
“Just renovate and do some expansion works, add some seating. Even a big team like Liverpool resorted to renovations instead of tearing their stadium down and building a new one.”
“Who is really profiting from this?” – Alor Setar MP
The idea of renovations was supported by Alor Setar MP Gooi Hsiao Leung, who compared this predicament to the 50,000-capacity Stadium Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin in Terengganu which opened nine years ago at the cost of RM 270 million.
“How are they planning to finance the building of this new stadium? Who actually gets the profits? Is there a hidden agenda behind this plan?” he questioned.
He also added that he is not completely against the idea of building a new stadium, he’s just trying to look at things from the fans’ perspective.
“I’m sure the last thing the fans want to see is such an iconic stadium being torn down.” he added. At the same time, he expressed his disappointment at the Kedah state government and the Kedah football association for not being able to secure funds to upgrade their stadium, which is in an appealing state.
The Darul Aman Stadium was built in 1962. Kedah won the “double treble” there in 2008, where they were crowned Super League champions, FA Cup champions and Malaysia Cup champions.
What do you think? Should they resort to renovations and upgrades instead of demolishing the stadium? Let us know!
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