BY BAVANI M

It took contractors eight weeks to demolish City Hall’s 47-year-old sports club building. — Photos: FAIHAN GHANI and YAP CHEE HONG/The Star

THE 47-year-old Kuala Lumpur City Hall Sports Club (KSDBKL) has been reduced to a pile of rubble, paving the way for a brand new building in its place.

The decades-old club was demolished on April 18. It took eight weeks for contractors to turn the complex into a pile of rubble.

However, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) said it was rebuilding a brand new club house to the tune of RM50mil in its place, which was expected to be completed by 2020.

The sports club located at Jalan Tun Sambanthan 1, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur was opened on April 17, 1970.

It was the training ground for football legends such as Rashid Hasan, Razib Ismail, Fandi Ahmad, and Chow Siew Yai during the 1980s.

DBKL Building Control Department director Alias Marjoh said a new sports complex would be built on the now empty 2.42ha-site.

The new four-storey KSDBKL building will also have a basement carpark. It will feature a football field, and courts for futsal, basketball, and tennis.

Indoor facilities will include three badminton courts, sepak takraw court, ping pong facilities, gym, a community hall and a cafe.

Alias, who is also the newly minted DBKL Sports Club president, said the complex facilities would not only benefit the 40,000 City Hall staff and their families, but also the community of Kuala Lumpur particularly the residents of Brickfields where the sports club was located.

Open-tender process

It was learnt that 32 companies participated in the tender process, last month, and now DBKL was in the process of evaluating the tenders before a preferred bidder is decided upon.

“Everything was open and above board, and I even excused myself from the committee (tender).

“That way, when the appointed contractor is not performing according to specifications, we can do what is necessary,’’ he said.

“The club itself comprised a management committee and a group of trustees with no overlap – that means members of the management committee cannot be a trustee and vice versa,’’ Alias said.

“Decisions cannot be made without the consent or endorsement of the other.

“In other words, some way down the line, if the management committee decides to sell the club or its land, they will need the consent of the trustees too,’’ he said.

Alias added that DBKL wanted to make sure the city’s asset was protected for its residents in the future.

Self sustaining club

To ensure that the club is able to sustain its activities and generate its own income with no outside help, Alias said at a recent annual general meeting, the management committee and trustees decided to include two more clauses to enable the club to carry out activities so that it can make money.

Alias elaborated that the Sports Club owned a 0.22ha land next to the club which belongs to the club.

The club is a trustee to the land while the building is being funded by DBKL.

“The club plans to build a sports hotel on the land.

“With the hotel, we can provide lodging and other services such food and beverage, sports retail, a meeting and event space for athletics who come here to train at the club.

“The hotel will complement the club nicely and we believe that it will be a good place to foster recreational school sports activities, tournaments for youth and as well as competitive leagues for professional players,’’ he said.

He added that the sports hotel would be a joint venture project between the club and another partner on a 45-year lease basis.