Motera Stadium: Preparation for ''Namaste Trump'' in final stage

Preparations are in the final stages for the 'Namaste Trump' event, which US President

Donald Trump is scheduled to jointly address with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the newly-built Motera Stadium here

on February 24. Ahead of the 'Namaste Trump' event, the world's

largest stadium was thrown open to the media on Friday. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has recently

given the 'building use' (BU) permission to the mega complex. Before the 'Namaste Trump' event, cultural events will

be held at the 1.10-lakh seating capacity stadium, for which several artists, including well-known singer Kailash Kher,

have been invited. "The stadium has many world-class facilities,

including a club house with 55 rooms, a gymnasium and an Olympic-size swimming pool. Being the world's largest cricket

stadium, it can accommodate 1.10 lakh spectators," Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) vice president, Dhanraj Nathwani,

told reporters. "While the stadium is spread across 64 acres, the

total construction area is spread across 1,80,000 square meters," he said.

The new Motera Stadium has been completely rebuilt after demolishing the old one, which was constructed in 1982

and had seating capacity of 49,000 people. For the 'Namaste Trump' event, when both Trump and

Modi are expected to address the crowd in the stadium, several prominent artistes were also invited to entertain the

audience. "We have invited several prominent singers, including

Kailash Kher. Gujarati artistes would include Sai Ram Dave, Purushottam Upadhyay, Parthiv Gohil and Kirtidan Gadhvi,"

Nathwani said, adding that the guest list yet to be prepared. The GCA has earlier clarified that the 'Namaste Trump'

event will not mark the inauguration of the complex. As per the schedule, Trump and Modi will also take

part in a 22-km roadshow before reaching the stadium. The roadshow will start from the Ahmedabad airport and

end at the cricket stadium in Motera after passing along the Sabarmati Ashram.

In a first, the newly built Motera stadium has four dressing rooms for the players to accommodate two cricket

matches at the same venue on a single day, officials of the GCA, which owns the stadium, said.

Normally, cricket stadiums have two dressing rooms to accommodate two rival teams during a match.

"But this stadium has four dressing rooms for players. With this facility, we can arrange two consecutive matches

(having two teams each) in this stadium. This is first time stadium to have such sports infrastructure," Nathwani said.

Notably, such consecutive matches are now played on one ground during the IPL.